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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – U.S. Air Force Airmen, allies and regional partners, including Bahrain, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, South Korea, Türkiye, and Qatar participated in the 10th iteration of DESERT FLAG from April 20 to May 9, 2025. This three-week exercise was hosted by the United Arab Emirates Air Warfare Center.
DESERT FLAG, a Red Flag-style exercise that featured aircraft ranging from A-10 Warthogs to F-15E Strike Eagles, C130 Hercules and MiG29s, provided ally-nations the opportunity to execute their primary mission sets alongside a large contingent of partner aircraft and ground support personnel. A total of 626 sorties were flown during the exercise.
The exercise yielded critical touch points for multinational regional partners at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels to build upon the foundational knowledge and core competencies needed to operate as a cohesive fighting force in defense of the Arabian Peninsula and the maritime corridor throughout the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
U.S. Air Force Colonel Andre “Vader” Walton, Deputy Commander of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, stated, “It’s important to get reps and sets in with our partners in the region so that we learn how to operate together.”
To his point, the U.S. currently serves as a security integrator within the region in support of the combined defense of the Arabian Peninsula. The UAE’s 10-year history sustaining a large force employment exercise through the DESERT FLAG series has enhanced collaboration and operational capacity between participants to best serve critical defensive missions.
“Our major defense partner, the United Arab Emirates, is a great host and continues to provide an excellent training opportunity,” said Col. Walton. He continued, “The AFCENT Air Warfare Center does an excellent job bringing partners together in a robust exercise to refine tactics, techniques and procedure— and leave with great lessons learned.”
Imagery of operations and activities within the U.S. Air Forces Central theater of operations is publicly available through the Defense Visual Information Distribution service at www.dvidshub.net/unit/AFCENT or www.afcent.af.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2025 06:34 |
| Story ID: | 544354 |
| Location: | AE |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, United Arab Emirates Host DESERT FLAG 10, by 1st Lt. Samantha Brown, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
