Pilots fly, fight in cyberspace Published Aug. 20, 2007 By Staff Sgt. Bryan Franks 33d Fighter Wing Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Four F-15C Eagle pilots from the 33d Fighter Wing spent July 16-19 involved in an exercise that included C-17s, B-1s, F-16s and a host of other Air Force platforms. This massive exercise involved more than 100 individuals from the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy, which were flying different aircraft and using weapon platforms like the Navy's Aegis missile weapons system and the Army's Patriot missile system. All three assets were operating in the same area at the same time. Where does an exercise of this magnitude take place? Over the "Internet." Through a vast network of simulators across the country, the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy conducted a Virtual Flag exercise in real-time, located in synthetic battlespace. The exercise's goal was to integrate cyber operations into a virtual weapon system exercise designed to prepare Airmen for deployments to the area of responsibility. Virtual Flag is about five years old, although other types of exercises similar to it have been around for decades, said Joe Moran, 33d Mission Training Center Project Officer. Each year, more players and weapon platforms are added to make the exercise more realistic. During the exercise, 33d FW pilots received briefs in which they learned the operations and targets for specific missions. The pilots then stepped to their F-15C simulators for the sorties. "It's a great tool for the Air Force," said Capt. Ryan Fandler, 33d Operations Support Squadron Director of Training. "We save money and manning by conducting these operations in a virtual battlespace, and we also are able to focus more on the information operations of a conflict and interact with many more platforms than we would if we were conducting a Red Flag exercise." Red Flag exercises are real-world events held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. "It's not the same as a Red Flag exercise," Captain Fandler said. "There are other areas we have to be concerned during a Red Flag exercise, like jets breaking or weather. During a Virtual Flag, the pilots can concentrate on the mission and flying - you never have to leave your base." This synthetic battlespace not only connected Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines via simulators across the world, Mr. Moran said. Artificial intelligence simulated some of the red and blue forces. In this virtual world, the engineers running the software have the ability to make pilots flying in F-15 or F-16 simulators look like MiG-21s, F-14s or other aircraft they may encounter during an actual conflict, Mr. Moran continued.