Greater flexibility of late Cold War fighter operations was facilitated by.
improved, and more extensive, training. In the US, this was first seen in the.
upgrading of individual aircraft tactics and aircrew performance that.
eventually led to the improvement in kill ratios over the NVAF in 1972. The.
spread of instrumented air combat ranges, and their ability to aid in the.
development of operational as well as tactical skills, led to the start of the.
USAF's Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB, Nevada. in 1975.
Red Flag took the ongoing process of improving aircrew and tactical skills .
and applied them in an operational context. Historically. it has been seen that if a.
pilot survives his first ten combat missions. he is less likely to be shot.
down and more likely to shoot down the enemy. The aim of Red Flag was to.
provide the equivalent of these ten missions in training.
However, the goal of Red Flag was more ambitious than just aircrew.
training. for it included the overall development of tactical and operational.
concepts that would be employed in the waging of future wars. Many of the ideas.
that would improve fighter' operations in general, and go on to be so successful in.
the Gulf War. first appeared as improvisations to meet a Red Flag.
scenario. and were then evaluated, tested and standardized. These exercises.
also trained both fighter leaders and staff planners in the complexities of modern.
fighter operations.
The introduction of Red Flag was followed by Green Flag exercises.
stressing realistic real combat exercises, and Blue Flag which focused on air-.
ground operations and made more use of simulation. The US improvements.
realized in these exercises were spread through multi-national participation.
Allied air forces soon started playing in Red Flag. with firstly the RAF and then.
allied nations benefiting from the Red Flag experience. The latter also.
provided their own insights into the development of operations, and gave all.
