As the U.S. Air Force embarks upon a reorganization to improve the service’s position to counter China, Air Force Gen. Kevin Schneider, who assumed the helm of Pacific Air Forces last Friday, sees a heightened service interest and need for base defense, particularly in the cyber realm.
Schneider, who’s had a nearly 36-year career in the Air Force, has been an F-16, F-15E, and F-22 pilot whose last assignment was as the director of the Air Staff at the Pentagon for almost two and a half years, according to his Air Force bio.
“All bases and installations around the world will be subject to some sort of threat or attack, particularly in the cyber environment,” Schneider told reporters last week at the Air and Space Forces Association’s warfare symposium in Aurora, Colo. “Our commanders have to be able to defend themselves at home station, wherever they are. I think that there is a greater emphasis on being able to fight the base, operate, keep that base going, as the mission generation force elements of a base deploy either into the theater or around the theater. Being able to operate the base is to be able to take care of its business–whether it be noncombatant evacuation, manage lift, deal with cyber challenges, etc. There’s going to be a lot riding on the shoulders of that commander at the base.”
In addition to cyber attacks, small kamikaze drones have been a recently worry for U.S. commanders–a threat reflected in a deadly attack on the U.S. Tower 22 base in northeast Jordan near Syria on Jan. 28 (Defense Daily, Jan. 29).
The Air Force reorganization to deter China has a number of elements, including large, multi-weapon combat-simulated exercises, versus the smaller scale ones of the last 30 years, Air Force Chief of Staff David Allvin said last week.
Last month, the Air Warfare Center at Nellis AFB, Nev., kicked off an exercise that may portend the Air Force’s future direction–the first Exercise Bamboo Eagle featuring the integration of fighters, tankers, airlifters, and command and control elements, the service said.
The Air Force is to conduct the first large exercise in fiscal 2025 in Indo-Pacific Command (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).
“I’m encouraged that the Air Force identified that and is committing resources to make that happen,” Schneider said last week. “We do exercises that are more individually focused within PACAF. We have an exercise budget. Exercises are not always inexpensive endeavors, but to do something of this scope will take the weight and resources of the Department of the Air Force.”