Tyndall Airmen return from Red-Flag 16-1

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sergio A. Gamboa
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  After a three-week-long temporary duty assignment, more than 200 Tyndall Airmen and personnel returned to Tyndall Feb. 13-14 from Red Flag, one of the largest and most realistic Air Force training exercises hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

During the Red Flag 16-1 exercise, 1,911 sorties were flown with 125 aircraft. Out of those sorties, 205 came from the 95th Fighter Squadron and 95th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

"The Airmen from Tyndall completely knocked it out of the park during this exercise," said Col. Derek C. France, 325th Fighter Wing commander and Red Flag 16-1 Air Expeditionary Wing commander. "The F-22 Raptors and the Airmen of the 95th Fighter Squadron and 325th Fighter Wing Checkertails led the way both on the flightline and in the air. They did a fantastic job, and I am really proud of all of them."

Approximately 130 aircraft and 3,000 personnel participated in exercise Red Flag 16-1, involving multiple U.S. military services and coalition partners, like Australia and the United Kingdom.

"It's been a fantastic exercise for us," said Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Philip Gordon, Red Flag 16-1 AEW vice commander. "We got all of our people and jets here from Australia on time and with no major issues. We've made all of our sorties. We've had some fantastic training and our men and women are really learning a lot from working with the U.S. and the U.K."

The training was centered on readiness through completing combat-realistic missions in a contested, degraded, operationally-limited environment.

"It is such a unique exercise. It's like nothing else we do in the Air Force," France said. "To bring all of the coalition forces and all the different types of aircraft together and focus on integrating as a joint and coalition team is something we don't see often.  We trained to the next level for those three weeks we were out there, and it was incredibly valuable to our training and worth the time away."