Joint Red Flag keeps Nellis busy

Jace Radke

Friday, March 18, 2005 | 8:24 a.m.

Las Vegans can expect to see and hear more military aircraft than usual in the air over the next two weeks as Nellis Air Force Base hosts all four military services in a first-of-its-kind training exercise.

The Joint Red Flag exercise begins Monday and runs through April 2. The goal of the exercise is to test the ability of the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines to work together in a war scenario, Air Force officials said.

"It allows us to prepare for real-world situations in a safe environment, as opposed to operations like Allied Force, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, where the first chance we had to get together with the other services and work the integration was on the battlefield," Lt. Col. Jim Murray, a Joint Red Flag project officer, said to the Air Combat Command News Service.

The bulk of flying, which will include Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. aviators, will be done at the nearly 3-million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range Northwest of Las Vegas. Ground forces will also be working in certain areas of the range, officials said.

Meanwhile, other forces across the country will be involved in the training scenario via Nellis' Combined Air and Space Operations Center, Nellis spokesman Capt. Steve Rolenc said.

The 40,000-square-foot center, also known as the CAOC, houses three separate operation bays filled with 12-foot-tall wall screens and a total of 500 flat-screen computer monitors.

More than 10,000 U.S. service members are expected to participate in the exercise, and about 100 aircraft will be flying sorties.