The 325th Fighter Wing at Tyndall AFB, Fla., has revised its mission statement to reflect its forthcoming transition from an F-22 pilot training unit into one that operates both the F-22 schoolhouse as well as a squadron of combat-ready F-22s. The new mission statement reads: “to train and project unrivaled combat power.” It replaces the statement that said the wing’s primary mission was “to provide air dominance training for F-22 Raptor pilots and maintenance personnel and air battle managers to support the combat Air Force.” In Fiscal 2013, Tyndall will switch from Air Education and Training Command to Air Combat Command as it gains a squadron of combat-ready F-22s that are relocating from Holloman AFB, N.M. “It is an exciting time here at Tyndall AFB,” said Brig. Gen. John McMullen, 325th FW commander, in a May 10 release. “We will continue to generate and deploy combat power and guarantee team Tyndall mission support, while developing professional airmen and taking care of airmen and their families.” (Tyndall report by A1C Christopher Reel) (For more on the F-22s coming to Tyndall, read Moving Time from Air Force Magazine’s 2011 archive.)
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…