Members of the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron from Travis AFB, Calif., arrived for a month-long stay in Colombia to help prepare Colombian airmen for their first-ever participation in a Red Flag training exercise next month. “The Colombian air force’s participation in Red Flag will bridge the capabilities of our two air forces to better meet the challenges of the 21st century,” said Maj. Brian Symon, 571st MSAS Colombia mission commander, in a June 8 release. The Travis air mobility experts touched down in Colombia on June 3. They will travel within the country to several locations, working side-by-side with Colombian airmen to develop their guests’ competencies in aerial support; command, control, and communications; airfield operations; and flight management, according to the release. The Travis advisors and Colombian airmen will then head to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., for additional training before arriving at Nellis AFB, Nev., for the Red Flag, which takes place from July 16 to July 27. (Bogota report by TSgt. Lesley Waters)
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…