JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – Six years ago, agile combat employment (ACE), the Air Force concept of operating at dispersed and austere bases, was a PowerPoint presentation advocated for by Pacific Air Forces leadership. Now, as the concept nears Initial Operational Capability (IOC), adding new ...
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam—Amid 4,400 acres of jungle terrain on the northern plateau of Guam, new construction is underway to add storage for standoff munitions and to better prepare the Air Force to meet the rising threat posed by China. The new standoff weapons ...
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam—U.S. and Japanese pilots exchanged silent high fives from their respective cockpits during the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron's bomber task force mission to Guam. “When we're talking to any ally or partner out there, the procedures are standard—everything's the same,” said ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he returned to government service because of “China, China, China,” but he admitted that the Air Force’s front line defenses in the Pacific have “a ways to go” in the areas of deception, defense, and practicing agile combat employment ...
In a 2027 invasion of Taiwan by China, neither side achieves air superiority, both sides take heavy losses, and China finds little hope for a fait accompli, according to a recent wargame run by the Center for a New American Security. The game highlighted the ...
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine provided a wake-up call for U.S. officials who should now recognize that if China has designs on Taiwan, “We have to look at this and say, ‘Hey, this could happen,’” said INDOPACOM’s commander Adm. John Aquilino. Defense Department officials appearing before ...
B-1 bombers operated out of Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia for the first time in more than 15 years recently as part of Pacific Air Forces’ Bomber Task Force missions. The B-1B Lancers, along with around 200 Airmen from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth ...
The Indo-Pacific region needs a large influx of spending to bolster missile defense, both at the strategic location of Guam and at other locations across the vast area of operations, the nominee to lead the region’s combatant command argued March 23. Adm. John C. Aquilino, ...
A sharp increase in deterrence funding in the Pacific, at a time when defense budgets are expected to shrink, is needed to prove that the region is the Pentagon’s top priority and to address growing needs in surveillance and missile defense, the head of U.S. ...
The Air Force may have inadvertently revealed the size of the secret B-21 bomber with the release of an image of a temporary shelter for the airplane. The service is evaluating several designs for temporary shelters for everyday use and deployment to temporary operating locations. ...
The new Bomber Task Force concept is operationally successful, and is also a hit with aircrews, whose morale has increased with the flurry of short-term visits to nontraditional bomber destinations like India and Norway, Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray said Feb. 25. ...
Four B-52s from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in late January, as part of a Bomber Task Force deployment to Pacific Air Forces, where they will train with allied and partner forces. “Deploying as a Bomber Task Force ...