International Training Exercise Runs Through July 27
Airmen from the Land of the Rising Sun arrived in the Land of
the Midnight on July 11, in preparation for the Red Flag-Alaska air
combat training exercise.
After a seven-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean, six Japanese
F-15s from Hyakuri Air Base near Tokyo and a US KC-10 Extender
carrying 21 Japan Air Self-Defense Force members landed at Eielson
Air Force Base under Alaska's sunlit midnight sky.
More than 125 Japanese airmen will work and fly alongside an
international force from Mongolia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and the
United States during the exercise, which runs from July 12-27.
The massive land area and varied terrain of the Pacific Alaskan
Range Complex, the largest training range in America, provides a
vital training environment different from the Japanese airmen's
homeland.
The landmass of Japan is
comparable to the size of California, but the country consists of
thousands of islands. The natural landscape of Japan results in a
significant proportion of its airspace being located above
water.
Training at the complex allows the Japanese Airmen to train in
airspace conditions that parallel the settings of ongoing modern
conflicts, said Col. Kyuichiro Tanaka, the flight commander of Red
Flag-Alaska's Japanese forces.
The air-to-air combat training of Red Flag-Alaska is expected to
provide an almost-real combat experience for Japanese F-15
aircrews. Aggressor squadrons are allied units that adopt the
traits, tactics and tendencies of enemy air forces to provide a
training environment more realistic than training against
traditional allied units.
This is the first time airmen from the Japanese Air Self-Defense
Force will train against an aggressor squadron, Colonel Tanaka
said.
Training at Red Flag-Alaska also gives Japanese airmen an
opportunity to exchange tactics and techniques with their cohorts
from other nations.
"Red Flag-Alaska fosters military-to-military communication at
both the officer and enlisted levels that will help to improve the
relationships of the countries involved," said Lt. Col. Brett
Pauer, the director of operations for Red Flag-Alaska.
Though the JASDF participates in an annual training exercise
with the US Air Force in Japan and regularly receives air-refueling
support from US aircraft, they have less experience in a
multinational environment. Colonel Tanaka said the cross-military
communication of Red Flag-Alaska will help provide that
experience.
Red Flag-Alaska's multinational participation and the addition
of the Pacific Alaskan Range Complex assets provide realistic
combat training in a safe and controlled setting.
"In addition to training on a spectacular range in realistic
combat scenarios, we also get the opportunity to exercise with our
international partners, which in and of itself is extremely
beneficial," said Col. Daniel DeBree, the Red Flag deployed forces
commander.
(Aero-News salutes Staff Sgt. Shawn J. Jones, Red
Flag-Alaska Public Affairs)