Exercise Cope Thunder was a Pacific Air Forces sponsored exercise initiated at Clark Air Base, The Philippines, in 1976. Conceived by Brigadier General Richard G. Head, the exercise was devised as a way to give aircrews from across Asia their first taste of warfare in a realistic training environment. The exercise quickly grew into PACAF’s "premier simulated combat airpower employment exercise."[1]
Prior to Operation Desert Storm, less than one-fifth of the U.S. Air Force’s primary fighter pilots had seen combat. While the percentage of combat-experienced pilots has increased in recent years, with the end of the Vietnam War a high percentage of pilots had not experienced combat. Analysis indicates most combat losses occurred during an aircrew’s first eight to 10 missions. Therefore, the goal of COPE THUNDER, and later RED FLAG-Alaska, was to provide each aircrew with these first vital missions, increasing their chances of survival in combat environments.
Each COPE THUNDER exercise was a multi-service, multi-platform coordinated, combat operations exercise and corresponds to the designed operational capability of participating units. In other words, exercises involved several units whose military mission may differ significantly from that of other participating units. COPE THUNDER planners took those factors into consideration when designing exercises so participants received the maximum training possible without being placed at an unfair advantage during simulated combat scenarios.
When the decision was made to relocate COPE THUNDER, Air Force officials viewed Eielson as the most logical choice. That decision was based on the close proximity of large areas of military training airspace and the fact that Eielson's 5055th Range Squadron, to become the 353d Combat Training Squadron in 1993, already maintained and operated three major military air-to-ground training ranges nearby.
COPE THUNDER was redesignated RED FLAG-Alaska in 2006.
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