US Air Force looks to train pilots for hi-tech threats

For more than a decade, US fighter pilots have become accustomed to "owning the sky" in wars against insurgents who have no warplanes or air defences. But in the desert outside Las Vegas, the US Air Force is trying to get back to basics, reminding pilots how to fly against a sophisticated enemy with fighter jets, surface-to-air missiles and satellite jammers.
Traditional combat skills have gotten "a little rusty," said Steve Imonti, a former fighter pilot who helps oversee simulated air battles out of Nellis Air Force Base. If a pilot goes three years or more without attending the "red flag" mock battles at Nellis, "then you see that rust really start to build up," said Imonti, director of programs and evaluation for the 414th Combat Training Squadron.
American pilots have become adept at precision air strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a handful of planes circling over a single target after receiving a call for air power from troops on the ground. With the United States withdrawing most of its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, senior commanders are anxious for crews to train for operations other than close air support, officials said.
Military leaders want pilots from all the services to spend more time training for large-scale assaults in a "contested environment," where US air superiority is not a given and where batteries of anti-aircraft missiles pose a lethal threat.
"The goal is, I want every lieutenant within his first two years to go to a red flag," he said, instead of the current average of about three years. "So that when you go to war, you've seen it before." At red flag, pilots on a "blue team" face off against a hostile "red" fleet of fighters that employ tactics drawn from intelligence reports on Iran, China and other potential adversaries.
Instead of insurgents equipped with AK-47s and roadside bombs, the red team is well-armed, with an array of simulated surface-to-air missiles and the ability to jam radar, disrupt radio communications and disable computer networks at a command center. Although officers insist the red side represents a generic enemy, the scenarios and targets often closely resemble real world armies, particularly Iran.