There is a need for the US military to increase capability in the Asia-Pacific region, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, Pacific Air Forces commander. While budget sequestration has complicated this task, there are core areas, such as long-range reach, that demand attention, Carlisle told attendees at AFA’s Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Sept. 18. The F-35 strike fighter, KC-46A tanker, and Long Range Strike Bomber are all key to PACAF’s strategy to support future plans, he said. How the Air Force conducts next-generation intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance is one of the biggest challenges in the region, said Carlisle. This is not just a platform issue, he noted, since it also involves working out information sharing activity with friends and partners in the region and jointly conducting processing, exploitation, and dissemination activities with treaty allies like Japan, he said. (See also Air Defense and Access in Asia.)
As it develops new weapons to attack satellites, the U.S. Space Force is focused more on ground-based efforts where the technology is more mature, the service’s top general said April 3.