A report released recently by the Seattle-based National Bureau of Asian Research calls on the US to maintain its capability levels across Asia in the face of broad overseas cutbacks. The report is the work of 14 defense and security analysts. (It is not free, but you can find a summary and order instructions here.) They assess how Asian countries are modernizing their militaries in the face of China’s rapid rise as a global power, as well as the region’s counter terror efforts and prospective changes in US force deployment. Michael O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., in his chapter, urges America not to sacrifice traditional military infrastructure “in an overzealous belief in the power of rapid defense transformation.”
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.