Around the Air Force, paper copies of base newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. More and more bases are scrapping their ink and newsprint publications for online versions. Last month, Vandenberg AFB, Calif., dropped its 50-year-old paper, the Space & Missile Times, which had started life in 1958 as the SAC Missileer. By using the Web and e-mail, Vandenberg’s public affairs airmen believe they can more easily and quickly reach the base’s population and their friends and families wherever they are.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.