US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Kim Jang Soo agreed during a meeting Feb. 23 in Washington that the two countries will disestablish the current Combined Forces Command on April 17, 2012. At that time they will complete the transition to the new South Korean-led command relationship. The two long-time allies have wrestled for months with timetables and cost sharing arrangements, with Seoul wanting to move more slowly with the transfer of control of forces on the peninsula.
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…