{"id":103908,"date":"2024-01-29T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=103908"},"modified":"2024-01-30T20:17:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T20:17:36","slug":"hill-afb-airmen-bring-f-35as-vital-capabilities-to-red-flags-modern-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=103908","title":{"rendered":"Hill AFB Airmen bring F-35A\u2019s vital capabilities to Red Flag\u2019s modern fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the past two weeks, Airmen from the 421st Fighter Squadron and 421st Fighter Generation Squadron have been launching and flying the nation\u2019s most capable multi-role fighter in the Air Force\u2019s premier combat exercise.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of pilots, maintainers, and support personnel from the 388th Fighter Wing have deployed to Nellis Air Force Base<\/strong><\/a> for Red Flag 24-1 with more than a dozen F-35A Lightning IIs<\/strong><\/a> from Hill AFB<\/strong><\/a>, Utah.<\/p>\n

Red Flag, which started after the Vietnam War to provide pilots combat seasoning, has grown into an integrated ultra-modern fight, testing various units\u2019 capabilities in the air, space and cyber domains. A friendly \u201cBlue\u201d force takes on an enemy \u201cRed\u201d force in scenarios created by a host \u201cWhite\u201d cell, the 414th Combat Training Squadron.<\/p>\n

Night and day, participants on the ops side are huddling together, mission-planning solutions to defeat the complex problem sets presented by the exercise planners, and then flying to defeat them. Each scenario could see more than a hundred Red and Blue participants fighting in linked airspace across California, Nevada and Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed Flag is a valuable opportunity for us to integrate the F-35 with other platforms and allied nations and fight in very realistic, challenging scenarios against the most advanced threats they can replicate,\u201d said Lt. Col. Nathan Heguy, 421st FS commander.<\/p>\n

As a multi-role stealth fighter, the F-35A\u2019s primary job in many of these missions is Offensive Counter Air. This could mean escorting and protecting stealth bombers or other fighters by detecting and picking off enemy aircraft before they attack. Or, tracking down and eliminating surface-to-air threats with a combination of technology and tactics that are unique to the F-35. The Nevada Test and Training Range, in particular, replicates surface threats \u201cbetter than anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this environment, where target objectives are protected by radar and surface-to-air missile networks woven together in lethal aerial shields, legacy aircraft cannot survive. The F-35\u2019s stealth, advanced sensors, electronic attack and communications capabilities make it ideal for quarterbacking the modern fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, we have had success taking these threats out and surviving, which is notable when you combine them with the very robust air-to-air threats here,\u201d Heguy said. \u201cBut, not every day is a win. Some days are harder than others, and if we\u2019re not struggling in training, we\u2019re not training hard enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The F-35 has not only been holding its own in the air, but it\u2019s been holding up on the ground as well, thanks to the maintainers in the 421st FGS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jets have been performing extremely well. We haven\u2019t lost a single sortie due to a maintenance issue,\u201d said Maj. Bryan Butler, 421st FGS commander. \u201cThat\u2019s a testament to our Airmen. Their ability to learn from this experience while executing the mission at the same time.”\n<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFNS) — \u00a0 Over the past two weeks, Airmen from the 421st Fighter Squadron and 421st Fighter Generation Squadron have been launching and flying the nation\u2019s most capable multi-role fighter in the Air Force\u2019s premier combat exercise. Hundreds of pilots, maintainers, and support personnel from the 388th Fighter Wing have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":103910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103911,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103908\/revisions\/103911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}