by Eamon Hamilton

Some 160 personnel along with eight F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from the RAAF's 77 Squadron based at Williamtown, plus two C-130H transports, deployed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada USA, for the The Red Flag exercise in Feb 2011. This involved more than 70 aircraft from the US, UK and Australia and was conducted in the Mojave Desert, Nevada, USA, between February 21 and March 5.

Australia has participated in Red Flag about every two years since the 1980s as part of a long-term tactical training program necessary to maintain combat skills and readiness levels. The Red Flag exercise series was developed in the mid-1970s to improve the air combat capability of the US Air Force following its unacceptable performance in the Vietnam war.

Eamon Hamilton (Ryan's brother who is a regular visitor to IPMS meetings) provided over 400 images from the deployment showing a wide variety of the participants (not just the RAAF). These have been run over several issues due to the large number involved. This is the final batch. Thanks are due to Eamon for making them available here. (Steve - Editor)

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