As the Air Force looks to pare down its budget, service leaders must make sure a cut to one program doesn’t have unintended consequences further down the line, said CMSAF James Roy last week during AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. As an airman goes through his career, his experiences, education, and training are all linked, he said. “We have some of the best technicians in the world and we have some of the most advanced equipment in the world,” said Roy. “We need to make sure that is sound.” The question, though, is how to bring an airman’s experiences, education, and training together operationally without losing sight of the strategic focus, he said during his Feb. 24 address.
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…