No Range, No Air Bases: If Asian news media accounts are true, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told South Korean defense officials during a meeting last fall that unless Seoul could provide suitable air training ranges, the US would remove its air bases from the peninsula. US Air Force pilots stationed in South Korea have expressed dissatisfaction with the situation, and the commander of US Forces Korea told Congress earlier this year that US air elements do not have adequate ranges to ensure day-to-day competence in air-to-ground operations.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
