More than 1,500 active duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command airmen and 84 USAF aircraft are participating in Red Flag-Alaska 06-2, which includes Army and Navy forces. Col. John Dobbins, the Air Expeditionary Wing commander for the exercise, said that the air-to-air threat is going to be “significantly higher” as will be the simulated surface-to-air threat than what airmen have been experiencing in Southwest Asia operations. The presence of the 64th Aggressor Squadron from Nellis AFB, Nev., provides the “volume and quality of professional red air we’d like to see,” said Capt. Ron Strobach, Red Flag-Alaska project officer. Aircrews will get at least 10 sorties in a realistic simulated combat environment on the Pacific Alaskan Range Complex, with more than 29 air defense systems. Daily operations will include close air support sorties for several thousand soldiers out of Ft. Richardson, Alaska.
Space Force acquisition leaders were already looking to see if they could shift some of their biggest programs to use commercial services or technology, but one of President Donald Trump's executive orders, signed April 9, that could super-charge that effort.