Inside the Gates: Eielson Air Force Base wraps up their Red Flag training

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - For the past two weeks, aircraft have been flying over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) participating in combat simulation exercises.

On May 13, military personnel wrapped up their training with Red Flag Alaska 22-1, a pacific air force directed field training that put participants in worldwide combat training simulations.

“We have a few ranges where we have multiple replicated threats that they’re able to target and track, and they’re able to replicate what they may see in other areas of the world,” said Assistant Team Chief for Red-Flag Alaska 22-1 Maj. Elliott Sahli. “It provides a very realistic picture for what they’re able to see

The JPARC training site allows them to battle through simulations and replicated threats that they could encounter anywhere in the world. Sahli said that since the implementation of the training in 1975, they have seen an increase in kill ratios.

“Just providing our wingmen, and our mission commanders and our team leads the practice and the capabilities to go into combat has really helped our capabilities,” Sahli said.

The Red Flag training occurs 3-4 times a year. According to the base, it brings over 8,000 participants to the event and aircraft from all over the world, including participants not only from the U.S. Air Force but other military branches.

“We get participants from all over the world, all of our sister services and coalition partners,” Sahli said. “We’ve got the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, the Australian Air Force. we get the Marines the Navy.”

The exercises create a sense of camaraderie between different international groups and Sahli said that it allows them to have an insight into who they may be fighting alongside in the future.

“You get to work hand in hand with everyone around you. It is an absolutely fantastic learning experience at the crew level,” Sahli said. “So that they get to know who they’re flying next to and who and they’re executing their stories with at like a very personal level.”