Continuing the Air Force plan to transform its numbered air forces into warfighting headquarters, 12th Air Force at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., now has become Air Forces Southern, or AFSOUTH, provisional. (It will remain provisional until it formally reaches operational capability.) In addition, AFSOUTH has become a full-time Air Force component for US Southern Command. AFSOUTH also has responsibility for training and equipping its wings and units.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.