The world is watching us, so let’s show them what we are made up of," IAF contingent commander Group Captain D Choudhury told his team members consisting of eight Su-30 topnotch fighters, two IL-78 air-to-air refuellers and an IL-76 heavylift transport aircraft, even as they stepped out into the USAF air base to face their toughest challenge ever.
"We have trained long and hard for this day. It is time to showcase our professionalism," Choudhury said to the 247 IAF warriors, who had reached Nellis a couple of days ago after their training and practice at the Idaho air base.
Frontline Indian Sukhoi fighters will test their capabilities against US and NATO air forces’ F-16s and F-15s in a complex and advanced network centric operations—the toughest test for flying machines and men—during the two-week long exercise.
Beginning with inaugural briefings and mission planning by the participating air forces from US, France and South Korea, apart from India, Red Flag will provide a realistic war situation where ‘Blue Forces’ represented by visiting air forces and enemy ‘Red Forces’ from US will battle it out mid-air, using both men and machine.
The Red Forces would be represented by the F-15s and F-16s aircraft of the 64th and 65th ‘Aggressor’ squadrons of the USAF from Nellis.
The "Blue Force" pilots would have all possible odds "thrown" at them to test their abilities and capabilities to tackle these threats.
"Availability of a large air-to-air range with threat replication contributes to the tremendous training value of the exercise. The replication of the air war would witness IAF’s Su-30 aircraft participating in suppression of enemy air defence air-to-air and air-to-ground missions," an IAF officer participating in the ‘Red Flag’ told PTI over phone from US.
The IL-76 would undertake tactical transport operations and large force engagement operations, even as the Su-30 fighters test their mettle with the F-15s and F-16s of the NATO forces.
During the course of the exercise, a set of "Red Flag" exercise team from all the participating nations would form the "White Forces" that would use hi-tech instrumentation and mission debrief tools to evaluate the performance of the pilots and their aircraft in a "clinical and detached" manner, the IAF officer said.
"As the exercise progresses, the "Blue Forces" are often told to change their plans during mid-flight to put them under pressure. The White Forces watches the entire exercise in real time on monitor screens on ground," the officer said.
What makes "Red Flag" exercise more challenging is the more realistic practice of "Kill Removal" by which the pilots and aircraft assumed to be shot at by an enemy is removed from the mission, he said.
During the next fortnight, the exercise will progress to tougher levels, testing the nerve of the pilots and straining the machines to the maximum.
The IAF will be spending about Rs 100 crore in the exercise that would be witnessed by Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal P V Naik for three days from August 13. The IAF has attached great importance to its pilots and aircraft participating in the exercise, as it would provide India with an insight into NATO war practices.
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