The Committee Defense Review report (see above), released Wednesday by the House Armed Services Committee, advocates increasing force structure across the board (force structure table) to ensure the US military can continue to wage a long-duration irregular campaign like the war on terror and conduct two simultaneous conventional campaigns. For the Air Force, the CDR recommends adding five air expeditionary forces to the current 10 AEFs. To equip those five new AEFs, the CDR recommends adding 680 airframes in a mix of fighters, bombers, and tactical airlifters, and 169 strategic airlifters and tankers.
Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, celebrated the beddown of its full complement of F-35s with a ceremony just weeks after the base received the last of its 54 fighters. The arrival of those F-35s in mid-April gave Eielson the Air Force’s second fully-equipped, combat-coded F-35 wing, comprising two fighter squadrons.…