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Luftwaffe takes part in Red Flag exercise in Nevada
By Patrick Hoeveler
“The Tornado is designed for low-level flight and it does it very well.” Of this, Luftwaffe pilot callsign “Zwok” (name witheld on request) is confident. Assisted by eight F-15 Eagles from the Oregon Air National Guard in Portland, the six Tornados from Fighter Bomber Wing 31 “Boelcke” in Nörvenich are expected to neutralise the ground based enemy air defences and knock out its communication centres. They are supported in this endeavour by two F-16CG's from Shaw AFB and two US Navy EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft. A B-52H Stratofortress serves as the rear guard, dealing with everything remaining after the attack. But today's mission will not be simple. “We know of six air defence missile systems within whose range we will have to fly.” Moreover, the enemy fighter aircraft are waiting for the intruders.
If this scenario were real it would attract global headlines, but here, at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, it is just routine, even if it is only simulated. The base is famed for its Red Flag exercises, in which the Luftwaffe regularly participates. During the two-week period 07-3 in August, the number of participants was unusually low as the Israelis had pulled out. Nevertheless, the benefit lies not just in flying with other nations and aircraft types, but also in having the opportunity to talk to the other crew directly after a mission. For the Tornado crews, the exercise has a further advantage, as pilot Zwock points out. “In the operating regions in which we fly or could fly, the weather conditions, temperatures and ground conditions are similar to the ones here. As a result, Red Flag offers a good training opportunity to see how the aircraft will behave under those conditions.” For in Nellis the targets are at an altitude of 1,800m. “Naturally the Tornado flies quite differently at an external temperature of 40 degrees from at low altitude in northern Germany.”
Again, the enemy they are pitted against here is quite unique, as Weapon Systems Officer Captain Andreas Fuchs explains. “Here there are genuine systems that a real enemy might deploy – and personnel who are extremely well trained on this equipment. The Aggressor squadrons have also studied Eastern and other tactics and employ these in one-to-one combat. You don't get that anywhere else.” Besides, the positions are closely networked with each other as they would be in the real world and are able to share target designations.
The actual flying takes up only a very small part of the exercise. For the Mission Commander the mission begins the day before when he gets his Air Task Order (ATO), which contains the task and objectives. Working with his flight leaders, he then plans the mission in principle for all the participants. For example, the aircrew from Nörvenich designate a planning crew for each day who draw up the complete plan for all six Tornados and stay on the ground on the day. The planning phase normally takes between six and eight hours and ends with a presentation before the exercise's hosts, who examine the mission from the point of view of air safety.
The next day the plan is presented to all the participants in the big auditorium. Then the two-aircraft formations normally sit down together again to discuss the plan. “After that we discuss in pairs how we will proceed in the aircraft. During the flight there is so much incoming radio traffic from outside that you have virtually no chance of discussing things in the cockpit,” says Zwock. “You simply try to filter the information coming in from the AWACS and the fighters and visualise it in your head to get a picture of what is happening around you. For example, do I need to react to the enemy fighters or not?”
The mission itself usually lasts 75 minutes. At night-time, with refuelling, it can be extended to three hours. After the flight, the course of events is discussed again, initially among the crew and in aircraft pairs. “We look for data that will tell us whether the bombs were on target, which missiles were trained on us, and whether we were shot down or not,” explains the Tornado pilot.
They then get further details in the special post-mortems for the air-to-air and air-to-ground roles. Here all the possible hits are analysed. The big final debriefing brings all the results together and allows the flight leaders to present the lessons they have learned. However, the analysis does not go into the smallest detail, as the participating nations have different confidentiality rules which impose restrictions on what they can divulge.
The individual missions are integrated into a larger scenario which, however, is not necessarily continuous. Again, the countries do not have any names but are divided into different regions numbered from 1 to 5. It turns out that Region 1 is the most poorly equipped enemy, whereas Region 5 is the strongest opponent. “Usually you aim for the communications centres,” explains the Weapon Systems Officer. “It is as if we are flying into a small country. The threats on the ground and in the air make it all very realistic. As soon as we pass a certain line, the war is on.”
However, there is little sign of endless expanses on Red Flag. The exercise airspace is not exactly optimal. “In places, the airspace is confined still further by restrictions,” says Zwock. “Today, due to approaches on account of the weather there were restriction on the altitude to which we could climb. We can get situations where a slice of airspace has been taken away in precisely the place we want to fly along. Moreover, the areas are subdivided again and have different restrictions as far as the use of decoys and chaff are concerned. Thus the crew have to always be aware of where they are and whether they are allowed to use their countermeasures. “Sometimes you get shot down precisely because you haven't been able to make full use of your defensive capabilities.”
Naturally the Germans have brought their laser-guided precision weapons with them to the Nevada desert. However, according to Captain Fuchs, the laser pods have mainly been used at night as relatively secure airspace without enemy fighters and air defence are necessary to deploy them from higher altitudes. “You have to fly a very long way in a straight line, and if you then have a situation with as many missile positions as we had today, it would be impossible to use the laser designation pod. Instead we fly in as low as possible to make things difficult for the systems.” Zwock adds, “Low-level flying would still work quite well against missile systems. You can't really release any precision weapons in a targeted way from really low altitude.”
Because today's air forces rely more and more on precision weapons, suppression of enemy air defences is becoming more and more important. “Here we want to practise flying under a serious threat,” the pilot explains. “It is really almost like in the Cold War. Wherever we fly today, we would be an easy prey higher up, especially with the Tornado. At certain altitudes, the manoeuvrability of an F-15 and a Tornado is as different as night and day. Our strengths are mainly low down.” Therefore the Tornado will continue to be frequent guest at Red Flag.
From page 46 of FLUG REVUE 1/2008
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