Gen. Howie Chandler, Pacific Air Forces boss, noted that his predecessor at PACAF, now-retired Gen. Paul Hester, had the opportunity to visit China, and now top Chinese officials are asking for a reciprocal visit. The head of the Chinese regional air element opposite Taiwan has requested a visit to PACAF headquarters in Hawaii. “We’re going to do that,” Chandler said in Thursday afternoon in Orlando at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium, partly because “we do not understand what their [military] intentions are.” Correcting that murkiness could help eliminate misunderstandings in the future, and that, in turn, could reduce the possibility of a conflict. Given the “one China” policy, Chandler added, it is unlikely that the US will begin to engage in military training exercises with either China or Taiwan individually.
Northrop Grumman test fired its newest solid rocket motor Dec. 4, part of an internally funded effort to rapidly design and build SRMs using advanced manufacturing techniques.
