It’s our favorite day of the week again, FighterSweep Fans! To send you off into your weekend in grand fashion, we decided to treat your eyeballs with a little trip to Nellis Air Force Base, where Red Flag 15-3 is currently underway.

This particular Light Gray once belonged to the now-inactivated 65th Aggressor Squadron (65 AGRS), providing the Blue Air assets with accurate threat replication of the Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker, a formidable foe proliferating the air forces of potential threat nations.

Thanks to the subject matter expertise of folks like “Shotgun,” “Pitch,” “Gadget,” “Mamba,” “Fade,” and many others, the 65th once helped contribute to the overall mission of the 57th Adversary Tactics Group at Nellis. The ATG provides coordinated and integrated opposition forces (OPFOR) to train US personnel and coalition partners in Air, Air Defense, Space and Information Aggressor initiatives.

So although those badass-looking F-15s have been scattered to the four winds, we will fondly remember hearing “Flanker” callsigns in the pattern and clambering over one another to try to get a good photo. All Red Air responsibilities have been handed to the talented and capable 64 AGRS, but as cool as the Vipers are, we already miss the Mighty Mighty in her odd clothes.

Thanks for the memories, Flankers!