The AMXs have been redeployed to Nellis for the ‘Green Flag’ and ‘Red Flag’ exercises; for the first time at the Leach Lake firing range, they dropped two laser-guided dummy bombs guided by an American Predator B. The Predator B was remotely piloted via satellite by an American operator from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, situated approximately 1,600 kilometres from the firing range. Operations in cooperation with the Predator then continued successfully during the ‘Green Flag’ exercise, involving both American and British operators. An advance team handled the initial preparations for the arrival of the Italian contingent, establishing the Autonomous Flight Unit (RAV) at Nellis Air Force Base (Nevada – USA), commanded by Colonel Giorgio Foltran, attached to the Combat Forces Command in Milan. The RAV comprises Italian Air Force personnel from the Combat Forces Command, the Logistics Command, the 51st Wing at Istrana (Treviso), the 32nd Wing at Amendola (Foggia), the Experimental Flight Unit at Pratica di Mare (Rome), the 16th Force Protection Wing at Martina Franca (Taranto), the 17th Raider Wing at Furbara (Rome) and the 185th ‘Folgore’ Parachute Reconnaissance and Target Acquisition (RAO) Regiment in Livorno. Nellis Air Force Base is situated near Las Vegas and, as its motto states, is the ‘Home of the fighter pilot’. The base is home to the US Air Warfare Centre, which oversees not only the US aerobatic display team (the Thunderbirds) and other units, but also the 57th Wing, whose mission is to train flight crews capable of carrying out integrated combat operations, both multinational and joint. The training organised by the 57th Wing, in fact, brings together a multitude of air and ground units from both the US and allied nations, with the aim of teaching participating crews the most advanced combat techniques. The 57th Wing’s institutional tasks include the planning, organisation and control of two of the world’s most advanced joint exercises: ‘Green Flag’ and ‘Red Flag’. ‘Green Flag’ represents the state of the art in close air support training for ground troops. During the two-week exercise, flight crews and ground troops work in close collaboration, developing and testing ‘in the field’ the appropriate tactics employed in current operational theatres. The aim of the exercise is to help participants understand the potential of air power in a training environment that faithfully replicates today’s operational scenarios, with a view to deploying air assets efficiently, effectively and, above all, without causing collateral damage to civilians or friendly troops. During ‘Green Flag 09-09’ (i.e. the ninth exercise organised in 2009), the AM-X aircraft take off from Nellis to carry out day and night missions (using night vision goggles, ‘Night Vision Goggles’) whilst flying over the National Training Centre (NTC), an area of approximately 1,000 square miles situated in the Californian desert. The operations are carried out in support of US ground manoeuvre units, which include an Italian team comprising personnel from the Air Force’s special forces (17th Wing), the Air Riflemen of the 16th Wing and the Italian Army (185th RAO), acting as ‘Joint Terminal Attack Controllers’ (JTACs). The dynamic scenarios developed during the exercise involve, on the air side, our AM-X fighter-bombers and US “Predator” unmanned aerial vehicles, and, on the ground side, an American manoeuvre brigade comprising over 5,000 soldiers, equipped exactly as they would be in real operations. ‘Green Flag’ therefore represents an exceptional training opportunity for both pilots and JTAC teams, as well as for liaison personnel between the air and ground components. ‘Red Flag’, on the other hand, is an almost exclusively air-based exercise in which pilots consolidate their ability to deploy the weapon systems at their disposal and validate their respective tactics, through the organisation and coordination of ‘formations’ comprising a large number of aircraft, whilst at the same time strengthening their ability to operate jointly with other units in ground attack operations (both real and simulated) and air defence. In particular, during ’Red Flag 09-05’, which will involve AM-X aircraft, over 60 American and allied aircraft will take part, including F-16s, F-15s, F-18s, EA6 Prowler, E-3 Sentry (AWACS) and KC-135 aircraft from the US, as well as F-16s from the United Arab Emirates. The ‘enemy’ role will be played by the 64th CTS and 65th CTS (the so-called ‘aggressors’) based at Nellis, which will simulate the most advanced enemy tactics – and therefore the most challenging to counter. To read the article in *L’Espresso* from Thursday 13 August
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