The latest Red Flag-Alaska exercise, held in June 2012, featured participation by a Polish Air Force C-130 crew for the first time. The crew, assigned to 33 Air Base near Powidz, Poland, participated in Red Flag-Alaska 12-2 as preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. Staging from JB Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the exercise provided English-language refresher training for the Polish crew as well an opportunity to practice with its runway visual range system. It also allowed the crew to go against simulated threats during the flights. Japanese C-130H and Australian C-130H and J-model crews also participated in this iteration of Red Flag-Alaska, which is held on a regularly scheduled basis to provide highly realistic air operations training.
