Cooperative Cope Thunder AEW Stands Up: More than 800 American military personnel and allied forces arrived this week at Eielson AFB, Alaska for the start of Cooperative Cope Thunder 06-03, the Air Force’s largest multilateral air combat exercise in the Pacific theater. The exercise will soon be renamed Cooperative Red Flag-Alaska. This year’s lead unit is the 35th Fighter Wing, Misawa AB, Japan, with Col. Nelson Cabot taking on the role as 35th Air Expeditionary Wing commander. Maintainers are preparing a variety of aircraft to take on the 68,000 square miles of range space available on the nearby Pacific Alaska Range Complex. Watch this space for updates
In the wake of a major Chinese military shakeup, the head of U.S. Space Command warned of China’s “breathtakingly fast” advances in space during visits to Japan and South Korea. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting’s trip to the Indo-Pacific is his first overseas visit since taking command of SPACECOM in January.