Report and photos by Robbie van Disseldorp (this article first appeared in the July 2021 issue of Scramble Aviation Magazine.)
We’ve all heard of Red Flag or Checkered Flag, Large Force Exercises (LFE) that bring together significant amounts of aircraft a few times a year at various bases in the United States. However, on any given week smaller exercises happen at airfields across America. Maybe you heard of some of them, or maybe not but just like Red Flag, these smaller exercises are vital to the survival of the US and partner nation aircrews in combat operations. One such exercise is Gunfighter Flag at Mountain Home AFB (ID), a bi-annual large scale, air combat exercise that brings together different units and airframes from all branches of the US military and its international partners.
Gunfighter Flag 21-1
This year’s first edition of Gunfighter Flag took place from 7-11 June. The intent of the exercise was to provide units from across the Department of Defense and its international partners with valuable experience in operating in a joint and realistic environment, which increases their effectiveness in active operations overseas.
Due to the nature of the scenarios being practiced, Gunfighter 21-1 was a very fighter centric exercise. Over 70+ fighters were parked on the Mountain Home AFB ramp while even more fighters joined the fight from their home bases. On Monday through Thursday participants flew two sorties (also called vul’s) a day. Friday only had a morning sortie.
A typical launch would see about 40 fighter aircraft taking off in the span of 30 minutes. Some of the aircraft that operated from Mountain Home AFB included the local F-15Es and F-15SGs, Republic of Singapore F-16’s and U.S. Navy F/A-18Fs. USAF F-35As provided the 5th Gen element of the exercise.
Off base assets flying from their home bases included F-15Cs, B-52Gs, KC-135s and E/A-18G Growlers. Civilian contractor Draken participated in Gunfighter Flag for the first time by providing several L-159s to the red air team.
Participants
U.S. Air Force
B-52G 69th BS Minot AFB*
F-15C 123rd FS Portland ANGB*
F-15E 389th FS Mountain Home AFB
F-15E 391st FS Mountain Home AFB
F-35A 63rd FS Luke AFB
KC-135R 92nd ARW Fairchild AFB*
KC-135R 151st ARW Roland R. Wright ANGB*
KC-135R 940th ARW Beale AFB*
Republic of Singapore Air Force
F-15SG 428th FS** Mountain Home AFB
F-16C/D 425th FS Luke AFB
U.S. Navy
F/A-18F VFA-213 NAS Oceana
E/A-18G VAQ-209 NAS Whidbey Island*
Civilian
L-159 Draken Nellis AFB*
*operating from their home base
** The 428th FS is a combined USAF/Republic of Singapore squadron.
Airspace
One major advantage of a Gunfighter Flag exercise is the vast Mountain Home Range Complex (MHRC). Only a five-minute flight from Mountain Home AFB, this complex encompasses parts of southwest Idaho, southeastern Oregon, and northern Nevada. It also provides exercise planners with an array of different landscapes including mountain peaks, canyons and flatlands. In total, this training range offers more than 9,600 square miles of airspace suitable for a variety of training missions.
Scud Hunt
During our visit, the day’s mission was a Theatre Ballistic Missile (TBM) hunt. Several convoys made up of trucks carrying large fake ballistic missiles, drove from Mountain Home AFB to the range. It was Blue Air’s task to fight their way into the area of operations, find and knock out these mobile launchers before they could launch their missiles at Blue Airfields. Making things hard for the aircrews is the 266th Range Squadron (RANS) and the Red Air forces. The 266th RANS is part of the Idaho Air National Guard and it’s main objective is electronic simulations of ground-based air defense threats. To replicate enemy air defense systems, the 266th deployed one of the most comprehensive collections of threat emitters in the USAF to the MHRC and Mountain Home AFB. During Gunfighter Flag the 266th RANS was divided into two teams, Sage Brush and Cowboy Control. Sage Brush controlled all the threat emitters and was constantly looking to shoot Blue air out of the sky. Cowboy Control acted as a ground-based battle space command and control center for the Blue Team. The Red Air forces were made up of the Draken L-159’s along with a number of aircraft from the participating units.
Mobile ATC
A unique feature of Gunfighter Flag 21-1 was that all air traffic on base was controlled from a mobile Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit. By using existing technology coupled with new equipment that the Air Force is currently testing the Mountain Home ATC crew was able to operate without the usual infrastructure. The idea behind this simulated deployed environment test is to make ATC units more agile so they can be dropped anywhere in the world and direct air traffic safely on a moment's notice.
The Final Battle
The last sortie of the exercise was reserved for a Defensive Counter Air vul. It’s an all out air-to-air scenario where Blue air set up on the east side of the complex with Mountain Home AFB behind them. Roughly 20 Blue air fighters were tasked with defending the airfield from wave after wave of Red air fighters. The Red air team gathered in the Northwestern part of the MHRC and moved east in an attempt to overtake the airfield. To make life more difficult for the Blue team, Red air fighters could be regenerated to rejoin the fight while Blue air was unable to do the same. A typical fight would start out around 20 vs 20 but due to the regeneration of Red Air fighters in the end it was closer to 100 vs 20 in favor of Team Red.
Even though Gunfighter Flag is not recognized by the USAF as an official Flag exercise it is still a vital exercise to prepare aircrews for the fight against near-peer threat adversaries. In these smaller LFEs, relatively new and inexperienced aircrews have an opportunity to fly alongside more experienced crews while getting their first taste of what it's like to fly in a highly contested environment.
Special thanks to the Public Affairs staff at Mountain Home AFB, Exercise Director Maj Michael ‘Duck’ Lynch, and Exercise Planner Capt. Chris ‘Rufio’ Jensen for making this visit possible.
