In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee March 7, Adm. William Fallon, head of US Pacific Command, stated that the Pacific region has “a shortage of responsive strategic air and ship lift to support force sustainment and deployment to operating areas. Fallon, who is soon moving to take over US Central Command, specifically complained that an “insufficient” number of C-17 and C-5 aircraft “could cause delays in the arrival of critical cargo and passengers.” He said he’d like to see more Pacific-based C-17s than the 16—eight at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and eight at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska—already promised.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous aircraft may provide a solution to operating in heavily contested domains such as the Taiwan Straits, according to a panel of expert who suggested operationalizing artificial intelligence for such purposes sooner rather than later. The group gathered virtually to help launch the Mitchell Institute for…