US Northern Command boss Army. Gen. Charles Jacoby signed two agreements with his Canadian counterpart, Army Lt. Gen. Stuart Beare, strengthening Arctic security and bilateral training arrangements, announced the Pentagon. Beare heads the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Canada’s counterpart to NORTHCOM within NORAD. “With an opening Arctic, we see more vessel traffic, and obviously see a greater need for a deeper understanding of the domain there,” said Royal Canadian Air Force Brig. Gen. A.D. Meinzinger, NORAD’s strategy director, during the Dec. 11 meeting of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense in Colorado Springs, Colo., during which the agreements were signed. Under the Tri Command Framework for Arctic Cooperation, the US and Canadian militaries agreed to boost joint research, intelligence sharing, and combined operations, according to the Pentagon’s release. The second document, the Tri Command Training and Exercise Statement, “postures us so we can both work together for the safety, security, and defense of both our nations’ populations,” stressed Royal Canadian Navy Cmdr. Darren Rich of CJOC.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.