Airmen with the 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron are constructing a large new hangar at one of the main US air bases in Southwest Asia in order to accommodate more of the aircraft that operate from there. This busy air base is home to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates E-3 AWACS, KC-10 tankers, RQ-4 Global Hawks, and U-2 surveillance airplanes in support of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. (380th AEW photo caption by MSgt. Scott T. Sturkol)
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…