Las Vegas, a town famous for heart-pounding excitement and high-stakes gambling, hides its most thrilling and dangerous action from the eyes of the public. North of the neon canyons of Vegas' casinos another game is being played for higher stakes. It's Red Flag, in which bombers, fighters and million-dollar spy planes cruise the skies of Nellis Air Force Base in the most realistic of war games.

Red Flag is a highly sophisticated combat-training exercise involving the air forces of the United States and its allies. It is conducted on the vast bombing and gunnery ranges at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Its purpose is to train air-combat warriors to fly, fight and win. Get to know these warriors, and go inside the training exercises. It's the only place in the world you can experience the first two weeks of war.

Exclusive: Go Inside the Combined Air Operations Center Experience the nerve center of Joint Red Flag, the largest military training exercise operated by the Department of Defense.

See the Planes in Action Check out a photo slide show of some of the advanced aircraft participating in Joint Red Flag.