ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- More than 100 U.S. Air Force Liberty Wing pilots, maintainers and support personnel traveled to Leeuwarden Air Base in the Netherlands, April 12 to participate in FRISIAN FLAG 2010.

The multi-nation exercise will last until April 22 and is meant to train pilots on offensive and defensive roles through realistic scenarios with an emphasis on tactical decision making.

In addition to the Royal Air Force Lakenheath personnel and U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter jets, other nations and aircraft participating in this exercise include Dutch F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets, Swedish JAS-39 Griffin  jets, Finnish F-18 Hornet fighter jets, Norwegian F-16 fighting falcon jets, German F-4s and Polish F-16 fighting falcon fighter jets.

The first exercise of this kind -- which is comparable to RED FLAG at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. -- was staged at Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, in 1992. At that time, it was called Diana Tactical Integrated Training (DIATIT). In 1993, the exercise was renamed DIAWACS in order to emphasize the participation of E-3 Airborne Early Warning and Control System(AWACS) aircraft. DIAWACS reverted to its original name of DIATIT following the cancellation of E-3 AWACS participation in 1997. The growing international participation caused another name change to FRISIAN FLAG, and the first "FRISIAN FLAG" exercise was held in 1999.