Military pilot reported near midair collision with a C172 during a training mission.

Attributes
ACN	1622617
Time
Date	201902
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Military Trainer
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 3244 Flight Crew Type 1529
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Miss Distance	Horizontal 0 Vertical 50

Narrative:

A near mid-air collision occurred between a flight of 2 [military trainers] and what appeared to be a cessna 172. Prior to the incident; the flight of [trainers] had exited the X area just prior to point F due to sun angle shadowing of terrain at that time of day; had re-joined as a flight; slowed to 250 KIAS; climbed to 7;500 feet MSL and turned to an approximate heading of 120 degrees to return to ZZZ. Upon completing a lead change out of that turn; the lead pilot went heads down to look for ZZZ center's frequency. Approximately 4-5 seconds later; the pilot at the controls of the dash 2 [trainer] called 'traffic traffic traffic' over the inter-flight frequency whereupon the lead pilot looked up to see the belly of the cessna 172 filling his windscreen approximately 20 feet above and 500 feet ahead of the lead [trainer] going the same direction.the lead [trainer] took evasive action by executing a bunt to increase vertical separation from the cessna. Once past the point of miss; the flight continued the decent to follow course rules into ZZZ; obtained ATIS information for ZZZ and switched to ZZZ tower. The flight landed without further incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Military pilot reported NMAC with a C172 during a training mission.

Narrative: A near mid-air collision occurred between a flight of 2 [military trainers] and what appeared to be a Cessna 172. Prior to the incident; the flight of [trainers] had exited the X area just prior to point F due to sun angle shadowing of terrain at that time of day; had re-joined as a flight; slowed to 250 KIAS; climbed to 7;500 feet MSL and turned to an approximate heading of 120 degrees to return to ZZZ. Upon completing a lead change out of that turn; the lead pilot went heads down to look for ZZZ Center's frequency. Approximately 4-5 seconds later; the pilot at the controls of the dash 2 [trainer] called 'TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC' over the inter-flight frequency whereupon the lead pilot looked up to see the belly of the Cessna 172 filling his windscreen approximately 20 feet above and 500 feet ahead of the lead [trainer] going the same direction.The lead [trainer] took evasive action by executing a bunt to increase vertical separation from the Cessna. Once past the point of miss; the flight continued the decent to follow course rules into ZZZ; obtained ATIS information for ZZZ and switched to ZZZ tower. The flight landed without further incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.