The Guam Initial Response Readiness Exercise, an island-wide program that teams Pacific Air Force’s 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam, with Naval Base Guam, kicked off in 2005 to coordinate training on war plan deployments and joint disaster response efforts. Starting next week, this year’s installment (now planned for every quarter) will be an expanded effort featuring Guam Army and Air National Guard along with Guam’s Civil Defense and Homeland Security joint team, as well as the formation of Joint Task Force Homeland Defense-Guam.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
