Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, commander of US Joint Forces Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation wants to retire come January, after serving some 37 years in the Air Force. NATO, in an Aug. 27 statement concurred, saying he had completed his term in the position. Now, it falls upon President Bush to nominate another US flag officer to take Smith’s place.
Fresh off the first combat deployment of its new EA-37B, the Air Force is nearly doubling the planned number of new electronic attack jets and projecting more than $3 billion in spending on the program in the next five years.