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Inside the Air Force
One F-22A 'virtually' shot down RAPTORS DOMINATE ALLIED AIRCRAFT DURING RED FLAG EXERCISE AT NELLIS Date: March 2, 2007 The F-22A Raptor dominated and frustrated its competition during recent war games at Nellis Air Force Base, NV, despite being out numbered by enemy aircraft, the exercise commander said this week. Over the course of the two-week exercise, aggressors conducted only one successful simulated shoot-down of an F-22A, Col. Tom Bergeson, 1st Operations Group commander and air expeditionary wing commander of the Red Flag exercise, said during a Feb. 27 conference call with reporters from Langley Air Force Base, VA. Red Flag is an "advanced, realistic aerial combat training exercise designed to give pilots intense combat experience in a controlled environment," according to a Feb. 23 Air Force statement. During the exercise, pilots from the U.S. and allied nations compete against each other in combat missions. Red Flag is designed for young, inexperienced airmen, Bergeson said. Five F-22A pilots participating in the war game were just two weeks out of Raptor flight school. Aside from the recently battle-certified F-22A, F-15C Eagles and F-16 Falcons assisted Raptor pilots during their missions, Lt. Col. Dirk Smith, commander of the 94th Fighter Squadron, said during the same conference call. Airmen from the Royal Australian Air Force flew the F-111 and C-130s and British pilots flew GR-4 Tornadoes and C-130s in the Feb. 3 to Feb. 16 competition. The F-22A, with assistance from the F-15C, however, proved extremely successfully throughout the war game, Bergeson said. The 14 Raptors participating in the combat exercise completed 100 percent of the missions assigned at Red Flag. "We had very few, if any, airplanes that survived the initial onslaught of the Raptor and the Eagle," he said. Each day pilots are engaged in two "wars," an hour-and-a-half daytime fight and a nighttime battle, Smith said. The Air Force or "blue" team flew eight F-22As during the day fight and six at night. The Raptors were typically up against 10 or 11 aggressor, or "red," aircraft. Missions included protecting as many as 50 aircraft from enemy threats and attacks against targets on the ground, as well as close air support. Additional F-15C Eagles and F-16 Falcons assisted the Raptors during missions, Smith said. Enemy aggressor aircraft included F-15s and F-16s that simulate "Soviet-built threats," as well as F-5 aircraft. After a simulated shoot-down of a red aircraft, that plane would go back to base, "tag another point and go back as a live fighter," he said. "So on average, we were probably seeing in the neighborhood of a three-to-one red force to blue force ratio because we killed them enough times that they would regenerate up to normally three to even four times during a scenario," Bergeson said. "The quicker you kill them, the quicker they regenerate and keep coming back at you and that's . . . the nature of red flag. "They want to continue to stress you to create this tactical problem so eventually they're going to get some guys through so they can give some air-to-air training to all the rest of the package that's paid a lot of money to get out there to see it," he added. Raptors were primarily used for the destruction of air defenses while EA-6 Prowlers and F-16CJs provided suppression of air defenses. "This was the first time where we'd have F-22s that would go in, try to take out the enemy air, and then while we were in there, be able to use our ability to penetrate a little bit more deeply into the enemy surface-to-air system," Bergeson. "We would drop some weapons and try to destroy those things." The F-22As performed simulated drops of the Joint Direct Attack Munition during the war game but did not utilize any of their electronic attack capabilities, Bergeson said. In the first day of exercises, the Raptor went up against aggressors it could possibly face today, Bergeson said. By the third day it battled aggressors it "might face in the next few years." |
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On Mar 29, 9:06 am, "Mike" wrote:
Inside the Air Force One F-22A 'virtually' shot down RAPTORS DOMINATE ALLIED AIRCRAFT DURING RED FLAG EXERCISE AT NELLIS Date: March 2, 2007 The F-22A Raptor dominated and frustrated its competition during recent war games at Nellis Air Force Base, NV, despite being out numbered by enemy aircraft, the exercise commander said this week. Over the course of the two-week exercise, aggressors conducted only one successful simulated shoot-down of an F-22A, Col. Tom Bergeson, 1st Operations Group commander and air expeditionary wing commander of the Red Flag exercise, said during a Feb. 27 conference call with reporters from Langley Air Force Base, VA. Red Flag is an "advanced, realistic aerial combat training exercise designed to give pilots intense combat experience in a controlled environment," according to a Feb. 23 Air Force statement. During the exercise, pilots from the U.S. and allied nations compete against each other in combat missions. Red Flag is designed for young, inexperienced airmen, Bergeson said. Five F-22A pilots participating in the war game were just two weeks out of Raptor flight school. Aside from the recently battle-certified F-22A, F-15C Eagles and F-16 Falcons assisted Raptor pilots during their missions, Lt. Col. Dirk Smith, commander of the 94th Fighter Squadron, said during the same conference call. Airmen from the Royal Australian Air Force flew the F-111 and C-130s and British pilots flew GR-4 Tornadoes and C-130s in the Feb. 3 to Feb. 16 competition. The F-22A, with assistance from the F-15C, however, proved extremely successfully throughout the war game, Bergeson said. The 14 Raptors participating in the combat exercise completed 100 percent of the missions assigned at Red Flag. "We had very few, if any, airplanes that survived the initial onslaught of the Raptor and the Eagle," he said. Each day pilots are engaged in two "wars," an hour-and-a-half daytime fight and a nighttime battle, Smith said. The Air Force or "blue" team flew eight F-22As during the day fight and six at night. The Raptors were typically up against 10 or 11 aggressor, or "red," aircraft. Missions included protecting as many as 50 aircraft from enemy threats and attacks against targets on the ground, as well as close air support. Additional F-15C Eagles and F-16 Falcons assisted the Raptors during missions, Smith said. Enemy aggressor aircraft included F-15s and F-16s that simulate "Soviet-built threats," as well as F-5 aircraft. After a simulated shoot-down of a red aircraft, that plane would go back to base, "tag another point and go back as a live fighter," he said. "So on average, we were probably seeing in the neighborhood of a three-to-one red force to blue force ratio because we killed them enough times that they would regenerate up to normally three to even four times during a scenario," Bergeson said. "The quicker you kill them, the quicker they regenerate and keep coming back at you and that's . . . the nature of red flag. "They want to continue to stress you to create this tactical problem so eventually they're going to get some guys through so they can give some air-to-air training to all the rest of the package that's paid a lot of money to get out there to see it," he added. Raptors were primarily used for the destruction of air defenses while EA-6 Prowlers and F-16CJs provided suppression of air defenses. "This was the first time where we'd have F-22s that would go in, try to take out the enemy air, and then while we were in there, be able to use our ability to penetrate a little bit more deeply into the enemy surface-to-air system," Bergeson. "We would drop some weapons and try to destroy those things." The F-22As performed simulated drops of the Joint Direct Attack Munition during the war game but did not utilize any of their electronic attack capabilities, Bergeson said. In the first day of exercises, the Raptor went up against aggressors it could possibly face today, Bergeson said. By the third day it battled aggressors it "might face in the next few years." No tactics allow right now for real, BUt the uK does not train low level for nothing. And the F-111 can do some fairly odd things even at 50 feet. I estimate parity not between F-22 and F-111 as dogfighters. |
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