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Early report: The F-35 dominated the dogfighting opposition in this year’s Red Flag exercises

Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images

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Red Flag training exercises are held several times a year and pit some of the U.S. Air Force’s best pilots and equipment against one another in simulated combat meant to approximate what an air-war with a near-peer opponent might be like. These drills offer pilots valuable experience when it comes to engaging other fighters, as the United States has not found itself in many conflicts that require a dogfight in decades (barring one shoot-down over Syria two years ago). Red Flag helps ensure America’s pilots are ready to fly into the fight if ever a war with a nation like China or Russia were to arise.

The most recent Red Flag drills were held over the past three weeks and saw participation from a dozen Air Force F-35As from the 388th Fighter Wing’s 4th Fighter Squadron, along with many other types of combat aircraft. Two years ago, when the F-35 had just reached its “initial operational capability,” the F-35 absolutely dominated the competition with a reported 20:1 kill ratio, meaning, 20 enemy aircraft were shot down (notionally) for every one F-35 lost.

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Comments

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  • Rick C

    Good info, thanks, Alex.

  • Myron

    Mason - I live close to Master Air Station Oceana. Last Summer we were chillax'n in the pool drinking beers on a Sat afternoon and suddenly 40 F-18 Super Hornets flew over (half painted grey, half painted blue ) and a single AWACs; all flying in a huge formation. They were all headed in the direction of the ocean for an assumed dog fight. Sure enough as the next 90 minutes passed the fighters returned home one by one. I never saw the AWACs return but can't say for sure I was paying attention. It was pretty cool knowing that they were headed out over the water to mix it up a bit.

  • Mason

    Alex, I know last years Red Flag had some naysayers as to how the drill was conducted. Some mentioned the Red Team was gimped in a fashion. Whether or not that was true, lots of questions. What was the engagement window in miles? What if any simulated ground based radar was used to detect either force? Was this purely an air to air where only aircraft radars acquired and fed information vs. AWACs handing off data? What was the composition of the Red team? Did it include Mig or SU type IR acquisition fighters that will use IR to engage and remain relatively (in 4th gen airspace) stealthy? How did the Red team acquire targets? Air assets only. Good news yes, buuut . . . how was the exercise designed, a link that someone like me can pore through or elements not released to the public?

  • Daniel

    Sounds pretty awesome.

  • Daniel

    Great post!! Asking a lot of the same questions I had, in a more intelligent way of course.