RED FLAG-Alaska air exercise season kicks off

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  • By Staff Reports
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  The season's first iteration of Pacific Air Forces' premier air combat exercise, RED FLAG-Alaska, kicks off April 3 and runs through April 18. 

RF-A 08-2 will welcome more than 1,700 personnel from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Participating aircraft include F-16s, F-18s, EA-6Bs, HH-60s, KC-10s, E-3s, F-15Cs, F-22s, B-52s and B-2s. 

RED FLAG-Alaska provides U.S. and allied pilots, aircrews and operational support personnel the opportunity to train and improve their air combat skills in preparation for a myriad of worldwide contingencies. 

The exercises are conducted on the Pacific Alaska Range Complex, the largest training range in America at more than 65,000 square miles, with air operations flown out of Eielson AFB and Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska.


Lt. Col. Brett Pauer, 353d Combat Training Squadron director of operations, said "RF-A exercises foster important military relationships with our coalition partners so that we will be ready to fly, flight and win on day one of any war." 

The tentative exercise schedule for the 2008 RF-A season is as follows: 

RED FLAG-Alaska 08-2: April 3-18
RED FLAG-Alaska 08-3: June 5-20
RED FLAG-Alaska 09-1: Oct. 2-17

For media in the Fairbanks area interested in covering RED FLAG-Alaska, please contact the Eielson AFB Public Affairs office at (907) 377-2116. For media in the Anchorage area interested in covering RF-A, please contact Tech. Sgt. Mikal Canfield at Elmendorf AFB's 3rd Wing Public Affairs office at (907) 552-8986 or at mikal.canfield@elmendorf.af.mil. 

For the latest news on RED FLAG-Alaska, visit http://www.eielson.af.mil/.