Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. (February 5, 2025): In the fifties and sixties, the U.S. military seemed to believe that close quarter aerial combat, or dogfighting, was a thing of the past. Advances in long range missile technology, it was believed, would replace the need for fighter jocks. American pilots paid the price over the skies of Vietnam, suffering “unacceptable” losses of nearly one-to-one. One of the primary reasons for this disparity was a lack of realistic one-on-one air combat training.

In this photo by Senior Airman Jordan McCoy, Petty Officer 3rd Class Keyon Griffin salutes an EA-18G Growler aircraft as it taxis out to support Exercise Red Flag-Nellis 25-1. The exercise is part of a series of two-week advanced aerial combat training sessions held several times a year. The goal is to develop and assess the ability of allied pilots to fight and win one-on-one encounters with the enemy. This effort began in 1972 with the creation of the Air Force’s special Aggressor program and the first Red Flag exercises followed a few years later.

Air Force Research has shown that a pilot’s chance of survival in combat dramatically increases after completing ten combat missions. As a result, Red Flag exercises provide pilots and aircrews with the opportunity to fly at least ten realistic simulated combat sorties in a safe training environment.

This aerial jousting takes place at the Nevada Test and Training Range, a sprawling twelve thousand square miles of empty desert outside Las Vegas. Here pilots square off between Blue (friendly) and Red (aggressor) teams in a series of extremely challenging encounters that are as close to the real thing as possible. Aggressor teams study enemy tactics and operate similar aircraft that U.S. pilots will encounter while friendly forces are evaluated on their ability to defend against these threats.

(Note: For the record, American pilots dramatically improved their kill ratios toward the end of the Vietnam conflict and this momentum help propel the creation of today’s successful Red Flag series.)