79th “Tigers” depart for Red Flag exercise

Published Feb. 19, 2013
By Staff Sgt. Kenny Holston
20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Pilots assigned to the 79th Fighter Squadron "Tigers" here will participate in Red Flag 13-3 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., beginning Feb. 21.

In addition to 79th pilots, Airmen assigned to other units under the 20th Fighter Wing will attend the exercise making up what is called the "core" to support the 20-day air combat training mission.

Team Shaw Airmen will train with more than 65 other units and will have the opportunity to fly multiple combat training sorties while getting a feel for air interdiction, combat search and rescue, defensive counter air, dynamic targeting and close air support, explained Maj. Michael Clapper, 79th FS assistant deputy operations officer.

Red Flag prepares pilots for real-world events, just like the one the 77th FS "Gamblers" are currently filling at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

Red Flag is a combat training exercise involving the air forces of the United States and its allies.

It is hosted north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range -- the U.S. Air Force's military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land.

With 1,900 possible targets, threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, Nellis AFB and the NTTR are the home of a peacetime battlefield, providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together, survive together and win together.

Nellis AFB Public Affairs contributed to this article.