Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, head of Air Force Space Command, described his new command as the “invisible force” and labeled 20th Air Force’s ICBM force as the President’s “biggest hammer,” on a recent visit to F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., home to the 90th Space Wing and 20th AF. He says the command’s challenge is two-fold: to be experts in the application of the in-the-background, but increasingly essential, space capabilities and to fathom ways to provide “ever greater support.” Chilton called the big hammer ICBM force “just as much or more relevant today … as we see other nations seek to develop nuclear weapons.”
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.