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Red Flag ups the training ante

5th August 2021 - 14:00 GMT | by Trevor Nash in Holsworthy

RSS

An F-35 red air pilot prior to launch on Red Flag 21-3. (Photo: DVIDS)

The USAF has strengthened its 'red air' capabilities at Nellis AFB with the addition of F-35s flown by trained aggressor pilots.

Although the USAF’s famous Red Flag live training events have featured the F-35 Lightning II in the past, the current Red Flag 21-3 exercise has seen them flown by aggressor pilots for the first time.

Conducted from Nellis AFB over the Nevada Test and Training Range, the exercise took place from 19 July to 6 August.

Col Scott Mills, commander of the 57th Operations Group at Nellis AFB and an F-35 aggressor pilot, said that ‘Red Flag originated as an air-to-air fight of blue players against red players, but it has advanced in every domain.

‘The aggressor is the

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