US European Command is undergoing a huge change. (Read our article from 2003 for background.) Large American bases reminiscent of the Cold War are being replaced with smaller regional training centers, such as ones that are being established in Romania and Bulgaria, where combat brigades will rotate on training and security cooperation missions. To help with this transformation, said EUCOM’s new deputy commander, Army Gen. William Ward, the command has created an Eastern European Task Force. The EETF comprises a small permanent staff whose function is to aid those US forces rotating through Romania and Bulgaria.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…