Members of the Ukrainian air force visited Ramstein AB, Germany, June 21-25 to discuss interoperability.issues with airmen of Ramstein’s 86th Airlift Wing. “The goal of the visit was to assist the Ukrainians in advancing and modernizing their air force,” said Capt. Brent Gaylord, commander of Ramstein’s 37th Airlift Squadron, a C-130J unit. The Ukrainian airmen visited maintenance shops, the air traffic control tower, airfield management and radar facilities, and took a flight in one of the base’s new C-130Js. “This visit [continued] the relationship between the Ukrainian 25th Airlift Brigade and the 86th Airlift Wing,” said Col. Oleksander Kulibaba, Ukrainian air force command deputy chief for aviation. He added, “We hope this relationship will continue to be developed in the future.” (Ramstein report by SrA. Amanda Dick)
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…