JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Red Flag-Alaska 19-2, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored exercise designed to provide realistic training in a simulated combat environment, is scheduled to begin June 6 with primary flight operations over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) scheduled through June 21.

Approximately 2,000 personnel are expected to fly, maintain and support more than 85 aircraft from more than a dozen units during this iteration of the exercise. In addition to the U.S., pilots from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF), and Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) are scheduled to participate, enabling them to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving interoperability with fellow airmen. The majority of aircraft will be based at, and fly from, Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

Red Flag-Alaska exercises provide unique opportunities to integrate various forces in a realistic threat environment and dates back to 1975 when it was held at Clark Air Base in the Philippines and called exercise COPE THUNDER.

Media interested in covering the exercise at Eielson Air Force Base should contact 354 FW/PA office at (907) 377-2116, media interested in covering the exercise at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson should contact 673 ABW/PA office at (907) 552-4577. Follow the RED FLAG-Alaska 19-2 Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) page https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/RedFlagAlaska for full coverage of the exercise.