PACAF’s General Hester, speaking at last week’s AFA symposium, emphasized the importance of US relationship with the Asian city-state of Singapore. Singapore has recently signaled interest in buying Global Hawk unmanned aircraft—a real possibility, in Hester’s opinion. Singapore has even poured funds into research and development of advanced sensors for the aircraft. Hester hopes that, some time after next year, he will be able to test Global Hawk in the Pacific and demonstrate its capabilities to Singapore’s armed forces. PACAF recently opened its new George C. Kenney Warfighting Headquarters at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and Hester envisions an interdependent, international facility for Washington’s friends in the Pacific. Hester has invited Singapore, Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan to send to the Kenney facility their own permanent military representatives.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has two new squadrons of F-35s at its disposal in Alaska just as “quite a bit of action” has taken place in the combatant command’s area of responsibility and the “advanced threats” there are becoming “more lethal,” said the squadrons’ wing commander, Col. David J. Berkland. Berkland’s…