Green Flag West exercises set to resume at Nellis base

Southern Nevada residents will see increased military aircraft in the skies beginning today as the Air Force resumes the Green Flag West 11-3 combat exercises.

The planes will fly between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily through Jan. 28.

The flight path includes the Las Vegas Valley, areas near Mount Charleston and north of Pahrump, and the Mojave Desert in Inyo and San Bernardino counties in California.

The exercise includes F-16s from the 555th Fighter Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy; KC-135s from the 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.; the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; the 42nd Attack Squadron, Creech Air Force Base; and a Cessna 182 Predator Surrogate from the Civil Air Patrol at the North Las Vegas Airport.

The unscripted battle exercise, meant to replicate warfare conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, is being conducted by the 549th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base and the 12th Combat Training Squadron at Fort Irwin in California.