BUCKLEY SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. –
Nearly 200 Citizen Airmen from the Colorado Air National Guard participated in exercise Red Flag 25-2 at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, March 10-21, 2025, for the 50th anniversary of the historic event. Red Flag occurs three times every year, each iteration including a varying set of participants.
March’s Red Flag welcomed an expanded roster of international allies and partners to include the United Arab Emirates Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, and Turkish Air Force. U.S. participants included the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the COANG as the only National Guard unit. The event served as a certification to validate that Colorado Air Guardsmen are prepared to deploy.
“[Red Flag] has been a tremendous asset to the U.S. Air Force,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Frank “Chester” Prokop, detachment commander, 120th Fighter Squadron, COANG. “The adversary tactics squadrons here specialize in exploitation and learning what the adversary does. They get data from a lot of different sources, and then they replicate that. We get the best possible training in the whole world out here on the ranges at Nellis.”
According to the Nellis AFB fact sheets, the origins of Red Flag are rooted in lessons learned from the Vietnam War which showed that if a pilot survived his first 10 combat missions, the probability of survival for remaining missions increased substantially. This allows pilots to be more confident and effective in actual combat. To enhance the realistic nature of the combat missions, the 57th Operations Group at Nellis controls seven squadrons that play the role of aggressors, replicating adversarial tactics against the participating units.
“A great benefit of Red Flag is the ability to show the rest of the world that we can fight really well as a team,” Prokop said. “This deters other nations when they consider offensive military actions to just know that we have a vote as well. We can provide offense anywhere in the world.”
U.S. Air Force Col. Eric Winterbottom, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander, stressed the importance of the interoperability component of Red Flag. "Red Flag-Nellis 25-2 exemplifies how international collaboration transforms our air combat capabilities, as diverse units come together to enhance operational readiness and foster long-term relationships."
An obstacle that the COANG continues to overcome through innovation is an aging fleet, which results in stress-testing the maintainers in a high tempo environment like Red Flag.
“Our block 30s are from 1986 to 1988, so they're old airplanes, but we have a fantastic maintenance group that maintains them to the highest standards,” Prokop said. “The good part is that we have new avionics, new radios, and new radars that keep us on the cutting edge of technology.”
Not only did the pilots have the opportunity to train in a combat situation, but the maintainers were also working in an environment that requires the pace and technical knowledge of a real-world combat scenario. Prokop explained how the nature of Red Flag encourages the multi-capable Airman concept. “There are a lot of drill status guardsmen in maintenance,” he said. “It's a really good opportunity for people to learn what everybody else does and to get out there and help the team any way we can.”
“Our maintainers can make or break an exercise like Red Flag,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin “Scrappy” Couchman, former commander, 140th Wing. “In true 140th fashion, they never cease to amaze me with their work ethic and intuitive means to fix any problem that may present itself. We could not do what we do in the air if our maintainers did not excel on the ground. The wealth of experience and innovation our maintenance brings to the fight is why the United States is the strongest military in the world.”