US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Kim Jang Soo agreed during a meeting Feb. 23 in Washington that the two countries will disestablish the current Combined Forces Command on April 17, 2012. At that time they will complete the transition to the new South Korean-led command relationship. The two long-time allies have wrestled for months with timetables and cost sharing arrangements, with Seoul wanting to move more slowly with the transfer of control of forces on the peninsula.
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its pilots and maintainers, the Danish…