The US Pacific Command master plan for infrastructure failed again to mention the little problem the US Air Force has been having in South Korea, namely getting a suitable air-to-surface training range, according to a newly released Government Accountability Office report. Last year, this problem prompted then-Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld to threaten to remove USAF forces from the peninsula. The good news is that GAO found that US officials believe the training problem will be overcome this year. Still, as it recommended last year, GAO believes the situation was worth a mention in the PACOM master plan, considering 7th Air Force “may be unable to maintain combat capability in the long term.” Go figure.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
