'Bandits' Are Back: USAF 'Red Air' Unit Will Fly F15s

What is the history of the Navy aggressors squadron?

'Bandits' Are Back: USAF 'Red Air' Unit Will Fly F15s
Aviation Week & Space Technology 10/31/2005, page 49
After a 13-year hiatus, a robust air-combat aggressor force is being
restored
The U.S. Air Force is expanding its only air-to-air adversary unit by
adding F-15 Eagles to the current F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet based
here. Sometime next year, about eight F-15s will join the 12 F-16s now
flown by the 64thAggressor Sqdn. (AS), bringing the unit up to a full
squadron-size complement. All of the fighters will be painted in unique
brown, or blue,
camouflage schemes, making them visually identifiable as "bad guys"
during Red Flag and other training exercises. During the 1970s and
1980s, USAF had four full aggressor squadrons--one in the U.K., another
in the Philippines and two here at Nellis AFB--that served as simulated
air-to-air adversaries, training thousands of pilots to survive and win
encounters with a very capable enemy. Budget constraints after the Cold
War forced a drawdown in 1990 to a mere seven F-16s. Those aircraft and
their crews were absorbed into the Red Flag squadron and designated the
Adversary Tactics Div. The 64th AS was reactivated in 2003 and given
another five F-16s to help handle a growing list of responsibilities.
Today, the unit supports the F/A-22 Raptor's test program, all Red Flag
exercises, the annual Maple Flag international training venue in Canada
and myriad other requirements. "With the F/A-22, Red Flag and Weapons
School, there was a lot of need for
adversary support at Nellis [AFB], so it made sense to [restore] the
aggressors to what they were before," says Lt. Col. Paul (Biff)
Huffman, 64thAggressor Sqdn. commander. "All the CAF [combat air
forces] group commanders have expressed interest in [that, too]. And
not just for the flying. They [want] our threat expertise, to bring
them up to speed on current threats out there. So, we teach academics
to new pilots at the various bases," not just at Red Flag. Over the
next few years, additional aircraft and adversary instructor pilots
will be added, enabling the initiation of aggressor "road
shows"--taking the unit's training expertise to CAF air bases. "The ops
tempos of operational units are pretty high, so coming to Nellis . . .
is a drain on them," Huffman says. "If we go to their home base to
train, that'll take some of the burden off them." Road shows probably
won't begin for at least two years, though, because demand for
adversary support at Nellis is consuming most of the unit's
resources--and will continue to do so for some time. Last year, for
example, the 64th AS flew approximately 300 sorties and 700 hr. in
support of F/A-22 testing and tactics development. "As they spin up
that new weapon system, they want to fly against the best simulated
threats [available]," he notes. Typically, the squadron's 12 F-16s log
about 2,500 hr. a year, a high rate for even a full squadron having
twice that number of airframes. "Those jets keep flying, because we
have some awesome maintainers," Huffman says. "They take a lot of pride
in keeping those brown and blue jets looking good and flying good." The
64th comprises USAF's air-to-air threat experts, charged with
replicating potential enemies' combat tactics. They serve as "red
air"--enemy fighters--during several Red Flag exercises each year,
carrying data and tracking pods. "We do certain things to best
replicate what a threat missile might do, but [we use] just straight,
vanilla U.S. systems," Huffman explains. "The tactics and formations we
fly are threat-representative, as well. It's as fine-tuned as we can
make it, based on the intelligence we have." Because today's threats
vary considerably, ranging from terrorism to potential attacks on an
ally by a rogue state, the aggressor mindset has evolved since the Cold
War ended. Pilots no longer think and act quite as "red" as they once
did, but the 64th still concentrates on replicating Soviet Union-type
tactics."We don't walk around in Soviet uniforms and read Soviet
magazines," the 64th AS commander says. "Our challenge is to present a
realistic, capable threat, [allowing] pilots to train against a
worst-case adversary. We can do that without replicating a certain
country's [air force] per se . . . as long as it's complex,
representative and challenging." To provide a full-spectrum simulated
threat, Nellis has activated a new Adversary Tactics Group (ATG) that
now includes the Red Flag unit, 64th AS and an intelligence squadron.
Ultimately, the ATG also will incorporate space and information warfare
threat experts, Huffman says. "The ATG is supposed to be an
all-encompassing threat capability. It won't be just air-breathing or
just space, but an overarching organization that [simulates] a
full-spectrum threat." Planners of a particular Red Flag or other
exercise will be able to select the level of threat sophistication
desired, he notes. So far, the aggressors are sticking to Soviet-style,
centralized command-and-control tactics. Consequently, the 64th AS has
a complement of experienced noncommissioned officers who serve as "red"
ground-control intercept controllers. They tell aggressor pilots where
to fly and even what maneuvers to perform during air-to-air engagements
with "blue forces." Potential adversaries armed with fourth-generation
fighters such as the MiG-29 Flanker could exercise more-western-like
pilot autonomy, but Huffman says he hasn't seen that occurring yet.
"Their political systems [are] still very centralized and controlled."
However, there are signs that some nations are giving pilots more air
combat autonomy. Last year, during a Cope India exercise, USAF F-15C
crews were impressed by the flexibility and capabilities exhibited by
Indian pilots flying MiG-29s and Su-30s. Although the F-15s were
constrained from using their beyond-visual-range missiles and
long-range radar capabilities, they lost mock combat engagements when
faced with 3-to-1 odds (AW&ST Oct. 4, 2004, p. 50). As a result of that
and other insights gleaned from exercises, the 64th AS continually
modifies and updates its tactics. The Cope India experience "was
certainly a little eye-opening for the whole [USAF]," Huffman admits.
"We saw there are some very capable countries out there, and some very
capable hardware. We learn from exercises, then see if we want to
incorporate some of the [lessons]." Periodically, consideration is
given to equipping USAF aggressors with F/A-18 Hornets or real MiG-29s,
for example, to better replicate a threat air force that's easily
differentiated from USAF fighters. But the expense associated with
supporting a small fleet of nonstandard, dissimilar aircraft is
considered prohibitive. Consequently, painting F-16s and F-15s in
different colors and patterns is "the best we can do at the [least]
cost," Huffman says. Adding F-15s next year will give the 64th AS about
20 aircraft, enabling more-realistic large-force engagements with blue
forces during Red Flag and other exercises. These aggressors will be
"straight up F-16s and F-15s," he adds. "They'll be as close to any
[threats] you'll find in the real world." Reactivated in 2003, the 64th
Aggressor Sqdn. now flies 12 F-16s. The aircraft simulate enemy
fighters during Red Flag and other exercises. The 64th Aggressor Sqdn.
will add about eight F-15s to its stable of F-16s next year. The unit
will field larger "red" formations that emulate potential adversaries'
tactics.

All of the fighters will be painted in unique
brown, or blue,
camouflage schemes, making them visually identifiable as "bad guys"
during


Anyone have a good pic of one of the F16s in the new camo pattern yet??