Page 8 - Desert Lightning News So. AZ Edition, June 1 2018

8 June 2018 Desert Lightning News www.aerotechnews.com/davis-monthanafb
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D-M wraps up first Red Flag-Rescue exercise
355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
U.S. personnel recovery and Combat Air Force assets throughout the country convened for the first execution of Red Flag- Rescue May 5 through 19 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Red Flag-Rescue, previously known as Angel Thunder, is a joint-force exercise that provides realistic combat training in a contested, degraded and operationally limited CSAR environment.
“The purpose of the name change is to solidify that this is a Combat Air Force, flag-level exercise for dynamic targeting, focused on isolated personnel or survivors,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Cunningham, Detachment 1, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander.
Red Flag-Rescue is the only exercise fo- cused on all five tasks of personnel recovery that is accredited by the Joint National Training Capability, a Department of De- fense initiative that ensures combat forces have gained experience operating jointly before deploying to theater.
“Red Flag-Nellis was originally created to give fighter pilots their first 10 combat missions in a large force exercise before deployment to contingency operations,” Cunningham said. “Red Flag-Rescue adopts this heritage as a subset of RF-N by provid- ing joint forces their first 10 CSAR missions in a large force exercise. Contested CSAR operations can only be conducted by a full complement of forces capable of fighting into and out of the survivor’s location.”
More than 20 units from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy col- laborated for the two week exercise.
Staff Sgt. Trevor McBride
Rescue personnel transload onto an HC-130J Combat King II during a mission May 8 as part of Red Flag-Rescue 18-2 near Da- vis-Monthan Air Force Base. Red Flag-Rescue took place May 5 through 18 and gives joint service personnel an opportunity to build fundamental combat search and rescue skills to fight in and out of contested environments.
A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey crew chief performs preflight checks on the aircraft to begin a combat search and rescue scenario May 12 as part of Red Flag-Rescue 18-2 exercise.
Staff Sgt. Trevor McBride
Senior Airman Kristen Heller
A UH-1 Huey helicopter waits for a coyote to pass before taking off May 17 at Davis- Monthan Air Force Base. Red Flag-Rescue gives joint service personnel an oppor- tunity to build fundamental combat search and rescue skills to fight in and out of contested environments.