ST. GEORGE – Washington County residents have been experiencing loud booms and shaking homes since Monday and wondered what was happening – the U.S. Air Force has the answer.
Capt. Jessica Martin, a public relations officer for Nellis Air Force Base, confirmed that the base was taking part in Red Flag, a realistic combat training exercise involving the air forces of the United States and its allies.
Red Flag began on Monday, Jan. 23, and will continue to Feb. 3. Until then, southern Utah residents may continue to experience incidents involving loud disturbances, and in some cases, shaken homes.
While the thunderous sounds and shaking created by exercise will cease in less than two weeks, Capt. Martin added that Red Flag is held up to four times a year.
The exercise is hosted north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range – the U.S. Air Force’s premier military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. With 1,900 possible targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, Nellis and the NTTR are the home of a “peacetime battlefield,” providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together, survive together and win together.
The 414th Combat Training Squadron is responsible for executing Red Flag and the exercise is just one of a series of advanced training programs administered at Nellis and on the NTTR by organizations assigned to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center.
Throughout the Red Flag exercise, more than 90 aircraft are scheduled to depart Nellis twice a day, around noon and again around 6 p.m. Aircraft may remain in the air for up to four hours. The flying times are scheduled to accommodate the other flying missions at Nellis and provide Red Flag participants with valuable training in planning and executing a wide-variety of combat missions.
The exercise will include units from Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota, Louisiana, Utah, California, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Massachusetts and Oklahoma flying aircraft including the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, E-3 Sentry, B-1 Lancer, and KC-135 Stratotanker.
In addition to U.S. aircraft, the Saudi Royal Air Force and the Republic of Korea will participate with their nations’ F-15 aircraft.
For more information about Red Flag, call the Nellis Public Affairs Office at (702) 652-2750 or go to http://www.nellis.af.mil/redflag-nellis/. \
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Copyright 2012 St. George News. This material may not be published or rewritten without written consent.
Thanks for posting this story. Everyone has been asking what the noise @ night has been!
Thanks for the update. Also thanks for the hard work. Thanks also for the hard work of our military.
That is a few hundred miles away from here to shake my house as bad as it has a few times I would say they are using some real big bombs at times!
But on another thought as the world awaits the day we go to way with Iran( Any day now wake up) I can not help but think this is a training mission for an all out assault on that last bastion of terrorist training. Why else would they train in the desert unless they plan on attacking a hostile force in the desert!
Another waste of our money. Wonder who is paying for the fuel…food etc? I can guess.
They are training to bomb with firecrackers. If other than that–and I mean atomic…go home.
And, if aerial combat is the rule…laugh out loud. Last aerial combat 1951-Korea. If bombers…are used..well…another plan to drop firecrackers. Aerial bombing only unites the people. I should know, I was on the receiving end for a period.
So, is the Air Force of much use? Ask the Vietcong–they won..Ask the Afghans (Taliban etc)…they will win.
And Shock and Awe. Destroyed the Infrastructure which is still not repaired. Good cooperation between the military and their friends…the contractors.BTW–Carrier in the Gulf–GOODBYE. Sunk that is.
Not sure what your smoking but your rant was really out there. If you don’t like America feel free to leave. Glad the Air Force keeps sharp on their skills!
I have friends in Nev and Az that felt and heard them also. I live in Cedar and we did too. So it isn’t just washington co. and of course nothing in our paper about it. I found out on FB.
Ohhh…so is that what I’ve been thinking was small earthquakes that last few nights??
heard there were 2 small quakes sunday n monday here in the area…
Amazing. This happens twice a year, every year for about two weeks at a time. It’s called “Red Flag”. How on earth does anyone who lives here not know this or REMEMBER from last year? This isn’t news. Keep your heads in the sand sheeple.
Yep. It’s started again. I live in Central, Utah. A few nights ago the “booming” was so loud it set the dogs off!