The
first of three Pacific Air Forces-directed Red Flag exercises in 2007 gets underway Thursday at Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force Bases in Alaska. Just a year ago, PACAF hosted the first Red Flag-Alaska, which incorporated the former Cope Thunder exercise. This first 2007 exercise comprises more than 1,300 participants from Australia, France, and the US Air Force and Navy. Aircrews will fly a minimum of 10 simulated combat sorties, offering an opportunity to “exchange tactics, techniques, and procedures and improve interoperability,” says Lt. Gen. Loyd Utterback, head of PACAF’s 13th Air Force. Plans call for Alaska to host a second Red Flag in early June and a third in July.
The U.S. and Sweden signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement on Dec. 5 that will strengthen military ties between them and likely lead to U.S. troops and prepositioned gear on Swedish soil. Swedish Defense minister Pal Jonson said the war in Ukraine prompted Sweden's joining NATO and he laid out…