US Central Command Air Forces, known in Pentagon parlance by its acronym CENTAF, formally changed its name March 1 to US Air Forces Central, or “AFCENT.” The redesignation is part of the command’s activities to implement a Chief of Staff directive to establish an Air Force component organization that is structured to operate and train every day in its wartime configuration. Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of AFCENT, hosted a ceremony Monday at Shaw AFB, S.C., the command’s headquarters, to mark the change and inactivate units under their old names and then reactivate them with new designations under the new structure. AFCENT, like its predecessor, is responsible for air operations in US Central Command’s 27-nation area of responsibility that includes Afghanistan and Iraq.
The U.S. and Sweden signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement on Dec. 5 that will strengthen military ties between them and likely lead to U.S. troops and prepositioned gear on Swedish soil. Swedish Defense minister Pal Jonson said the war in Ukraine prompted Sweden's joining NATO and he laid out…