The Alaska Exercise Makeover:

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

Now that Pacific Air Forces has wrapped up Cooperative Cope Thunder 06-3, the command’s next multi-national combat training exercise will appear as Red Flag-Alaska. Reportedly there were several variations in play for a name, including Red Flag North and Cooperative Red Flag. (And, service leaders have decided to rename the original Red Flag, traditionally hosted at Nellis AFB, Nev., as Red Flag-Nellis.) Gen. Paul Hester, head of PACAF, calls the merger of the two exercises “a real boost” for Air Force and allied training. One of the new participants this year, a contingent from the Swedish Air Force, traveled five days and 5,000 miles to participate. Lt. Col. Ken Lindberg, Swedish detachment leader, noted that his country realizes its “military needs to become more expeditionary.”

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org