Reductions in space and cyber don’t “scale well” with reductions in other types of force structure, said Air Force Space Command boss Gen. William Shelton on Nov. 7. While it’s possible to shave down airplane squadrons or personnel, with space and cyber, it’s a binary proposition: “You either have coverage, or you don’t,” asserted Shelton during his AFA-Air Force Breakfast Program talk in Arlington, Va. These are “critical domains,” and “foundational” to everything else the service does, he said. Anything less than a full and modern capability is an invitation to failure, said Shelton. “We can’t do cyber with industrial-age” technology, he added, noting that some key systems, like those that track space debris, are still being handled by mainframes with punchcards. “At times like these, there are always people out with the budget knives,” Shelton told reporters after his address. “The force structure is always under pressure,” he said. His point, he explained, was to make it clear there can be no half measures with space and cyber. “You either provide the global coverage that’s needed or you don’t. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to fly [fewer] GPS satellites.’ You need the constellation,” said Shelton.
Hawaii F-22s Wrap Up Deployment to Japan
April 9, 2021
F-22s and Airmen from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, forward deployed to Japan for almost one month to train with Japanese and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft as part of a “dynamic force employment” operation. The Raptors from the Active-duty 19th Fighter Squadron and Air National Guard 199th Fighter Squadron deployed…