It aims to offer realistic air-combat training for military pilots and other flight crew members from the United States and allied countries.

Red Flag exercises are conducted under the control of the United States Air Force Warfare Center (USAFWC) at Nellis.

They use "enemy" hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises within the adjacent Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

Additionally, the Red Force command and control organization simulates a realistic enemy integrated air defense system (IADS).

RFMDS is a computer hardware and software network that provides real-time monitoring, post-mission reconstruction of maneuvers and tactics, participant pairings, and integration of range targets and simulated threats.

Blue Force commanders objectively assess mission effectiveness and validate lessons learned from data provided by the RFMDS.

USAF pilots and WSOs of the late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s were not versed in the core values and basics of ACM due to the belief that beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) engagements and equipment made "close-in" maneuvering in air combat obsolete.

[citation needed] As a result of this BVR-only mindset reaching its zenith in the early 1960s, nearly all USAF fighter pilots and WSOs of the period were unpracticed in maneuvering against dissimilar aircraft because of a concurrent Air Force emphasis on flying safety.

The first Red Flag exercise was conducted in compliance with General Dixon's schedule on 29 November 1975 and included 37 aircraft, supported by 561 personnel, flying some 552 sorties.

F-5 Tiger II fighters, painted in color schemes commonly found on Soviet aircraft, were added shortly after that and became the mainstay until the F-16 Fighting Falcon was introduced.

Red Flag and Air Wing Fallon should not be confused with smaller, but longer duration, programs that the USAF and USN run to train individual weapons and tactics instructors.

In 2009, the 416th Flight Test Squadron from Edwards AFB, California, participated in Red Flag as well, the first time an Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) unit had been part of the program.