MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho -- The Republic of Singapore Air Force Peace Carvin V detachment spent the last few weeks at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, participating in exercise Red Flag 17-4.
Exercise Red Flag provides pilots and ground crew alike an opportunity to practice realistic combat training and real-time war scenarios they may experience downrange, enabling the 428th Fighter Squadron to prove and polish their combat skills.
The 428th FS is the host unit of the Singaporean detachment at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
“The squadron’s role in Red Flag is to employ the F-15SG in a myriad of different mission types ranging anywhere from offensive counter air to strategic attack and defensive counter air,” explained Lt. Col. Donald Sandberg, 428th FS commander.
Although the F-15SG is mainly an air-to-air player, it has proven itself as a multirole aircraft and is often tasked to do more, such as dynamic targeting and strike execution.
“One of the key highlights was the dynamic targeting mission, where aircrew gets airborne with very limited information on the ground threats,” said Lt. Col. Kok Choon Oon, Peace Carvin V detachment commander. “In the air they are dynamically tasked to attack the pop up threats, which include mobile ground threats that could potentially launch the missiles and have effects on our order of battle.”
Despite operating on an unfamiliar range, the unit excelled in their execution of dynamic target attacks – proving that Singapore is a force to be reckoned with and demonstrating just how valuable Red Flag is for the squadron, Sandberg stated.
“One thing that Red Flag allows us to do outside of the partnership building is to go to a range in a target area complex with targets we’ve never seen before,” he said, “And what’s amazing is to then turn around and see RSAF aircrew perform at a level so high against a target they’ve never even seen before –whether those be fixed targets or moving targets.”