Virtual Flag exercise promotes interoperability among forces, coalition

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sean Martin
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Aircrew from the 2nd Operations Group participated in Virtual Flag 13-4 on Barksdale Air Force Base, Sept. 11-19.

Five teams represented Barksdale during this exercise.

"Virtual Flag is a joint exercise that brings U.S. and coalition forces together in a simulated wartime environment," said Capt. Patrick Godinez, 2nd Bomb Wing electronic warfare officer. "We are able to fly and perform missions together via a simulator."

There are various units and assets that join Barksdale from all over the world during this annual exercise.

"For this year's Virtual Flag, we have U.S. Air Force, Navy personnel, British and Australian forces participating with us," said Godinez. "As far as the aircraft we are using, we have B-52H Stratofortress bombers, F-16 Fighting Falcons, Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and Britain's RC-135."

Since Virtual Flag is executed via simulators, it proves to be a very cost-effective exercise for the Air Force. It also has things that cannot be demonstrated in a live exercise.

"In the current fiscal environment, this exercise is very effective in simulating real-world scenarios," said Godinez. "Some effects that can't be simulated are actually taking off and landing."

Even though takeoff and landing are not the same in the simulator, Godinez says there are things you can do in the simulator that you can't do in the aircraft like pushing the aircraft to its limits.

"Intel fabricates a fictional country that is made up of things from various other countries," said Godinez. "Things we would encounter in a real world country are set up for us. From that, mission operations are coordinated, and after units have a video teleconference, we begin our attack."

Each unit that participates in the exercise is graded using a bomb-damage assessment.

"They grade us on how are weapons are released and the effects of the drop on the designated target," said Godinez. "It is up to us to perform our own BDA and then relay that information to the operators."

This exercise is a way for many nations to come together, practice and learn from each other.

"It's very, very important to be able to work so close with our coalition forces," said Godinez.
"We are going to be fighting alongside them no matter where we go. They are able to add new capabilities that we don't have and vice versa. With this knowledge, we can keep the enemy off balance at all times."