Red Flag 03-01was held at Nellis AFB, Nevada between October 26 and November 8, 2002. The objective was to provide AEF/AEW an opportunity to plan and train together in preparations for future deployments as part of the Aerospace Expeditionary Force. Red Flag's primary focus is to replicate the first 10 days of a major tactical operation throughout large force employment. It provides participating units a training opportunity that cannot be accomplished at home. It also gives aircrews an opportunity to practice employment tactics throughout a full spectrum of tactical warfare.

Red Flag is currently the most realistic simulated air-warfare training exercise held anywhere in the world. It regularly involves the air forces of the United States and its allies. Red Flag is conducted on the vast bombing and gunnery ranges at Nellis AFB, NV. It is one of of a series of advanced training programs administered by the Air Warfare Center and Nellis, through the 414th Combat Training Squadron. Red Flag "U.S.-only" periods per year are scheduled by ACC/XO staff based on CAP annual training requirements. It is an opportunity to fully integrate special access programs into aircrews training. Other Red Flag exercises with Foreign Air Arms participating are called "Coalition Flag" and can include participants from Spain, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Israel, Turkey, and more.. There are four Red Flags per year. Each one has one to three 2-week periods with different players.

Every Red Flag period does cover aspects of Offensive Counter Air (OCA), Defensive Counter Air (DMA), Interdiction (INT), Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and Command and Control (CC). Other aspects of tactical warfare are integrated into Red Flag on "as needed" basis to optimize aircrew training. These include Close Air Support (CAS), Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), Special Operations Forces (SOF), Tactical Airlift and Air-Air Refueling. Red Flag replicates viable and current threats, and CC architectures in scenarios simulating a cross section representation of significant areas of responsibility throughout the world. Each Red Flag period has the following scenario elements; Air-Air threat, Surface-Air threat and target array.

Participants in Red Flag are divided in two forces, Blue and Red Forces. The Red force threats include electronically simulated surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft artillery, communications jamming forces and an opposing enemy air force composed of Red Flag Adversary Tactics Division pilots. These pilots fly F-16s in a variety of paint schemes such as Lizard (Brown and tan wrap around), Ghost (Gray and blue wrap around), Patches (Four shades of blue), Snake (Green, brown and tan) and Silver. All Aggressors have Soviet style numbers on the nose to identify them. These pilots are specially trained to replicate the tactics and techniques of potential adversaries. Their mission is to attack the Blue Forces and prevent penetration in the target area. Most of the aircraft and personnel deployed to Nellis for Red Flag make up the Blue Forces. These forces use various tactics to attack Nellis ranges targets defended by a variety of simulated ground and air threats to give participants aircrews the most realistic combat training possible. Blue Force is composed of units flying Interdiction, Close Air Support and SEAD. Participants in Red Flag 03-01 included the 414th CTS (F-16s), 325th FW (F-15s), 127th FW (F-16C), 147th FW (F-16C), 177th FW (F-16C), 158th FW (F-16C), 49th FW (F-117A), 52nd FW (F-16CJ and A-10A), 354th FW (A-10A), 355th Wing (EC-130E), 2nd MEF (EA-6B), 161st ARW (KC-135E) and 552nd Wing (EA-3B).

The actual area reserved for military flying in Red Flag is over 10,000,000 acres of which over 3,000,000 acres is the actual Nellis ranges. The ranges has over fifty different types of targets which include trains, armed vehicles, industrial complexes, and high threats targets such as radars, SAMs and AAAs, convoys, railways, bridges and airfields. All aircraft involved in Red Flag are equipped with a special pod on one hard point. The pod gathers data for ground personnel to be able to see what's going on in the theater of battle. The pod is called an "AIS" or Airborne Instrumentation System. It is attached to a pylon like an AIM-9 or AIM-120 and is linked to the aircraft onboard electrical avionics and weapons systems. The pod communicates directly with a special system located in ground stations. All information gathered come up on large screens and can be followed by the Red Flag personnel during the battle and for debriefing.

During Red Flag 03-01, participants flew twice a day as part of a package containing up to 20 to 30 aircraft. Half the missions were flown at night with the use of Night Vision Goggles (NVG). As usual, participating in Red Flag was for many Air National Guard units an excellent opportunity for training and a first time for many aircrews. Valuable training was successfully accomplished by all.

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