Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, last week hosted the CONJEFAMER (Conferencia de los Jefes de las Fuerzas Aereas Americanas) conference in Washington, D.C. The annual meeting brings together the air chiefs of nations in North, Central, and South America to discuss mutual cooperation and security and to foster cooperation and friendship. “As an airman, I strongly believe that our cooperation, as a community of airmen, makes each of our nations stronger,” said Schwartz. This year’s meeting was the 50th in the organization’s history. Participating were the air chiefs of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the US, and Uruguay. Belize and Guyana were also represented as observer air forces. CONJEFAMER 2011 is scheduled to take place in Brazil. (SAF/PA report by TSgt. Amaani Lyle)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…