The United States, UK, and Australia, on Wednesday, conducted joint air drills, Red Flag, over the Nevada desert and beyond as part of a simulation of high-end combat operations against Chinese fighter jets and air defenses.
Jared J Hutchinson, a US Air Force Colonel and the commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron responsible for the three-week-long exercises, stated that the annual air drills were not related to any recent events.
Tensions between China and US rose on Saturday after US fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon near the coast of South Carolina.
“(China is) just the pacing challenge that we train to so that we’re ready … We think that if we’re ready for China, we’re ready for anybody,” Hutchinson said, citing US policy.
The core objective of the drills was to tackle the extensive distances involved in operating across the Pacific by the United States, Britain, and Australia, and to enhance the interoperability of their respective air forces.
For the crew on board the Royal Air Force’s Voyager, the role involved serving as an aerial refueling station, supplying fuel to fighter jets during the simulated mission.
Air Commodore John Lyle, the commander of the RAF’s Air Mobility Force, informed Reuters that the objective of the mission during the Red Flag drills was to simulate a scenario where the air forces are deployed into “an area where there has been an invasion by a hostile country.”
“So our role will be to support the force to effectively proceed into the area that’s been occupied and to undertake targeting of key assets to allow us to degrade the enemy’s capabilities,” Lyle said, without mentioning China by name, or identifying what simulated area had been invaded.
In addition to the tanker aircraft, Britain also participated with Euro fighter Typhoon fighter jets in the exercises.
Meanwhile, Australia provided EA-18G Growler aircraft, as per information provided by the organizers of Red Flag.
Lately, the Pentagon has been expressing increasing worries about China’s efforts to exert pressure on Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers a separatist province.