Firepower is the live fire demonstration that used to be called Capstone. The Bush administration, using the philosophy of leaving no program name unchanged, changed the name from Capstone to Kidney Stone to Sharon Stone to Fight the Power (must be a fan of Public Enemy) to Fire Power (or perhaps Firepower). Of course, there was nothing wrong with "Capstone."
Generally I close the page with the photo of the poor schmucks who are banished to watching the Capstone from mesas near highway 95. However, this photo is useful to show the strange lighting due to a heavy marine layer in parts of the sky. This photo shows heavy clouds right above the viewing area, but clear skies in the distance. Now why bother talking about this strange weather? Is it an attempt to mimic Art Bell? No, just keep an eye out for parts of the scenery in the following photos illuminated by the light of the bombs rather than sunlight, which was diminished by the heavy clouds.
B52 spitting out countless flares and a bit of air pollution.
B1 bomber with the wings swept back. [Goofy lighting due to heavy overcast.]
Nellis Weapons School A10. [Click for higher resolution photo.]
Here we have the bombs plus retarders dropped from a B1being illuminated by the flares it just released.
A few of the bombs are caught in mid-air.
The cockpit of this A10 is partially illuminated by the flares it just released.
I'm hoping this helicopter isn't tilted as much as this photo indicates. For the privileged few in attendance, the fireworks get pretty close. The crowd is carefully screened and only contains military personnel. It's not like you would find the Rachel 4H club in attendance. Nah.....