F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.