Gen. Paul Hester, Pacific Air Forces commander, said Thursday afternoon at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that he has not stepped up the operating tempo of forces around Korea since Pyongyang detonated a small A-bomb last fall. The Air Force has been “observant” of North Korea and has kept up its reconnaissance efforts, but Hester said he’s relieved to report that no big troop movements or mobilizations attended the nuclear test or the big salvo of ballistic missile tests at about the same time.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.