RED FLAG Off-season: Aggressors take time to ‘spin up’

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Yash Rojas
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  In Aggressor Country, providing each participating unit with the desired training is the order of the day during RED FLAG-Alaska and other aerial combat training exercises.

During the off-season, the Aggressors' mission changes focus, concentrating more on upgrading and updating everything from personnel to training for upcoming exercises.

The Aggressor mission is, "Know. Teach. Replicate." Exercises like RF-A and Northern Edge focus primarily on replicating the enemy threat.

When not training to become better trainers, the Aggressors are helping support major units in the Pacific Air Force.

"[Non-flag season] is kind of like the off-season in baseball," said Maj. Peter Kasarskis, 18th Aggressor Squadron scheduling assistant director of operations. "We go back into the books to learn more about the Know and Teach portions of the mission. [Pilots] are also sent to conferences to learn the latest adversary tactics and get spun up for next RF-A season."

In January, pilots from the 18th AGRS will become mobile training teams, taking their mission to participants who were not able to attend one of the large training exercise, said Capt. Max Cover, 18th AGRS flight commander of scheduling.

"During non-flag season we have guys studying up on threats and then we internalize that as a unit," said Cover. "Before we go on an MTT we are going to get "spun up" on ourselves so when we [take the mission elsewhere] we can say here is the latest in [enemy tactics], here is what is going on. This helps pave the way for next year's exercises so that people are getting the most up-to-date information in enemy threat replication and tactics."

In maintaining the Aggressor mission, the tempo remains steady keeping the squadron's pilots busy during exercises and the offseason.

"This is probably the busiest season we have ever had with five major exercises," said Cover. "Each time an exercise finishes, we are right back to the drawing board to see how we can improve."

In addition, it is the 18th's job to support the 3rd Wing's fifth generation fighter aircraft at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said Kasarskis. While at Eielson the replication of enemy threats and tactics is more visible.

"The 3rd Wing loses support during RED FLAG-Alaska," said Kasarskis. "We cannot support RED FLAG-Alaska and them at the same time. When we are not supporting RF-A, we [concentrate on] supporting the 3rd Wing to help fulfill their mission. At any given time [during the off-season], as many as two-thirds of our aircraft are supporting fifth generation fighters."

The off-season is a change of pace for the pilots at the 18th AGRS, but they continue to take preparative measures during the non-flag season to bring the most up-to-date and realistic enemy threat to U.S. friends and allied forces.