As the White House works to secure a new treaty with Russia on nuclear force levels by the end of the year, Maj. Gen. Roger Burg, who oversees the nation’s land-based strategic deterrent as head of 20th Air Force, offered his perspective. “Just the same as you would do with any strategic capability, get your strategy right and then figure out what time and cost [are] required to support it,” he said Sept. 15 at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. Burg said it’s important not to make cost the independent variable that drives the strategy. “I think we can all understand the urgency of arms control agreements that are about to expire and new relationships that need to be built, but we have got to get the strategy right” first, he said.
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.