Two RAF squadrons swapped the Scottish winter for a high-profile training exercise close to Las Vegas.
Typhoon crews from 1(Fighter) and 6 Squadrons, based at RAF Leuchars near St Andrew's, took part in Exercise Red Flag in Nevada along with around 160 military aircraft from the US, elsewhere in the UK and Australia.
The exercise was designed to replicate combat as closely as possible and saw RAF Typhoon's take off from Nellis Air Force Base, close to the famous Las Vegas strip, for training above the vast Nevada ranges.
Group Captain Mark Jeffery, who led the RAF deployment, said: "Red Flag is probably the premier flying exercise in the western world. We're very lucky as we're on the doorstep of the Nevada ranges here, a very large area where we're able to simulate all sort of threats.
"Red Flag is the pinnacle; it's the exercise you need to do to make sure your forces are ready. Hopefully they'll never have to do this for real, but clearly we need to be ready to be able to do this anywhere in the world."
Leuchars is to become an Army base by 2015 with the jets it currently hosts moving to RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.
The last Leuchars Airshow was held in September last year after 65 years.
Leuchars Station Commander, Air Commodore Gerry Mayhew, said: "Red Flag is one of those rare moments when we get so many nations and so many airplanes together to do some of the best training in the world.
"We just don't have the airspace in the UK to train at this scale. With 60 to 70 aircraft in the air at the same time it is training you just can't get anywhere else.
"For our pilots, Red Flag is like going from GCSE to A-level very, very quickly. They do some training back in the UK to slowly build themselves up to a position of understanding, but it's a shock to the system when you're suddenly thrown in with that many airplanes for the first time, a real test of your mettle."
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article