Report on U.S. Military Power 2012 (33)

Chapter Six Military Exercises

U.S. military exercises include exercises conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces alone and those conducted jointly by the U.S Armed Forces and other militaries. In 2012, the number of U.S. military exercises, the countries participating in the exercises, and weaponry and equipment and personnel involved in the exercises are all on the rise.

I. Military Exercises Conducted by the U.S. Military Alone

Exercise Red Flag-Alaska 2012. From 7thto 22ndJune, the U.S. Air Force conducted Red Flag-Alaska 2012, an exercise of simulated air combats. Different from previous drills, the Opposition Force employed advanced jet planes, surface-to-air missiles and satellite jamming devices, with F-15 and F-16 fighters painted to represent Russian Federation Air Force fighters. As revealed by the U.S. Air Force officials, there was a specially designed program of attacking underground targets, the purpose of which was to train pilots for bombing missions against underground nuclear facilities in Iran and DPRK.

Schriever Wargame 2012 International Game (SW12IG). The 7thin a series of Air Force Space Command wargames conducted at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada on April 20th, SW12IG was the first game in the series history that used a combined team led by NATO and Australia. The SW12 IG scenario depicted NATO/Australian combined counter-piracy operations around the Horn of Africa. The scale and scope of SW series have kept on expanding since 2001.

Exercise Internal Look. From mid-February to the beginning of March, the Central Command secretly conducted Exercise Internal Look to assess the likely impact of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Two results came out of the exercise: first, Iran launches a missile against a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf, killing around 200 U.S. sailors; the U.S takes revenge, thus involving itself in the war; second, Iran is unwilling to confront the U.S. directly; instead, it uses Afghan armed groups as proxies to launch attacks on U.S. and NATO forces. “Internal Look” is one of the most important wargames conducted by the Central Command, usually twice a year. In recent years, they have been used to rehearse DoD’s Middle East operational plans.

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