Maj. Gen. Dana T. Atkins has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general to command Eleventh Air Force at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, with Pacific Air Forces, the Pentagon announced March 20. In this role, he would also head Alaskan Command for US Pacific Command and NORAD’s Alaskan Region. Atkins, currently PACOM’s director of operations at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, would replace Lt. Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, who has been tapped to become PACOM’s deputy commander.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.