The Air Force plans to reactivate 3rd Air Force—it was just a year ago that US Air Forces in Europe deactivated it. The news is seeping out, as you can see from this biography of Lt. Gen. Robert Bishop Jr., which now notes at the top that he is “selected for reassignment as commander, 3rd Air Force.” There was also a brief announcement out of DOD on Sept. 22 (we missed it first time around). The implication of both the bio and announcement is that 3rd will be emplaced at Ramstein AB, Germany, the site of USAFE’s new warfighting headquarters, not at its old stomping ground at RAF Mildenhall, England. However, there is no official word out of USAFE yet.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
