RF-A 16-2 brings record number of participants

  • Published
  • By Airman Isaac Johnson
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  More than 2,000 personnel, 30 units and 110 aircraft from across the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and Republic of Singapore Air Force descended upon Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, for Red Flag-Alaska 16-2, which runs from June 6-17.

RF-A is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, Joint National Training Capability accredited exercise developed to expose pilots to real-life stressors they will experience in their first eight to 10 combat sorties.

On average, more than 1,000 personnel and up to 60 aircraft deploy to Eielson, and an additional 500 people and 40 aircraft deploy to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, for each RF-A exercise. However, 16-2 is proving to be one of the more unique exercises as it hosts its largest exercise in more than half a decade.

“This is the largest [Red Flag] in six years to include the largest [U.S.] Army involvement to date with more than 800 participants,” said Lt. Col. Derrick Vincent, the 353d Combat Training Squadron director of operations. “It’s a great opportunity to capture some really incredible training.”

Participants are organized into "Red" aggressor forces and "Blue" coalition forces. "White" forces represent the neutral controlling agency. The Red force includes air-to-air fighters, ground-control intercept, and surface air defense forces to simulate threats posed by potentially hostile nations.

All RF-A exercises take place in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex with a total operating area of more than 67,000 square miles, including one conventional bombing range and two tactical bombing ranges containing 510 different types of targets and 45 threat simulators, both manned and unmanned.

The JPARC provides a realistic training environment and allows commanders to train for full spectrum engagements, ranging from individual skills to complex, large-scale joint engagements in the largest instrumented air, ground and electronic combat training range in the world; roughly the size of Missouri.

“To conduct [RF-A] on a large scale is about as real as it gets,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Micah Lambert, the exercise maintenance group commander for RF-A 16-2. “The opportunities RF-A provides are limitless if those involved are willing to learn.”

The exercise takes place over the course of two weeks with interactions between various agencies and personnel from across the services, and the globe. This free exchange of ideas between forces enhances not just those relationships, but also their operational efficiency.

"We're planning the mission together, we're briefing, debriefing together, and we're executing what we could potentially do in a crisis," said Vincent. "It's all about building partnerships that will last. When that crisis does occur and we called to action, we know each other, we know their tactics, and we can execute a smarter plan to destroy the enemy and meet the commander's intent."