Arctic Vipers to Siberian Snipers: Aggressor mission is to know, teach, replicate threat

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Patrick Welch
  • 18th Aggressor Squadron commander
EIELSON AFB --  Air Force Aggressors have a proud and rich history dating back to the fall of 1972. The program started as a direct result of the high air combat loss rate our air forces experienced in the Vietnam War. 

The air-to-air kill ratio had fallen from 10-to-1 in the Korean War to almost 1-to-1 at a low point during the Vietnam War. Reversing this trend highlighted the need for a professional adversary force to play "red air" and conduct a program of intense dissimilar air combat training. The dissimilar training requirement continues today and drives the unique camouflage paint schemes our Aggressor F-16 will showcase in the near future. 

The Aggressor program has enjoyed a roller coaster ride from a 100 jet build-up during the 1970s to budget cuts and force re-structuring almost causing their complete demise in the 1990s. A few Aggressors carried the torch through the lean years until our current Air Force senior leadership decided they wanted a more robust professional adversary program, much like during the 1970s. This plus-up vision included the 18th Aggressor Squadron which recently opened for business at Eielson. 

The need for professional adversaries who play the "bad guys" continues and for good reason. The threat to our Air Force has increased which requires realistic training, including accurate replication of air threats with increasingly sophisticated, diverse, and adaptive adversaries. 

In order to provide this realistic training, Aggressors need to have a uniquely trained group of individuals who immerse themselves in the threat and become certified threat experts. Aggressors embrace their role as adversaries because they realize the positive training impact the combat air forces enjoy by flying against them. The pilots even wear old Soviet sniper (pilot) wings as a symbolic reminder of a once clearly defined threat..

Defining who the "bad guys" are today is a challenge. The air threat has increased dramatically in the past decade with the infusion of advanced capabilities from other nation's air forces. These newer aircraft enjoy airframe and avionics improvements that provide some clear advantages beyond legacy Air Force fighter capabilities, and therefore pose a considerable threat to all air operations. The increasing sophistication of threat weapons mandates increased emphasis on high fidelity training only the Aggressors can provide.

The Air Force combat advantage has always been its warfighters, and high quality training is the means to achieve success within current resource limitations. 

Eielson's Aggressors are in the midst of a robust training program, acting as the professional scrimmage team for the Air Force and our coalition partners, to meet the near future needs of both Red Flag-Alaska and the rest of our combat air forces. The Red Flag-Alaska exercise is just one of the training venues the Aggressors participate in to challenge and help train our air warriors.

Eielson Aggressors continue to execute the professional adversary mission of the original Aggressor squadrons. Our charter is to know, teach and replicate the threat and we look forward to getting out and executing that mission here at Eielson, throughout the Pacific Air Force and the rest of the Air Force. 

The wing's support of the new "red" mission is imperative, because in the end, the training and support the Eielson Icemen provide will ensure the combat air forces are adequately trained for any future conflict.