US Air Forces in Europe plans to deactivate a wing it created in May 2004 to oversee disparate units around the command. Scott Schonauer of Stars and Stripes reports that USAFE will eliminate the 38th Combat Support Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, because it found that bases closer to the geographically separated units could in fact provide better support. The personnel cuts go toward USAFE’s share of the 40,000 airmen the Air Force plans to shed by 2009. We haven’t heard from USAFE whether it plans to eliminate the 501st CSW it activated at RAF Mildenhall, UK, in May 2005. As far as we know, these are the only two CSWs in the Air Force.
The Air Force displayed all the firepower it has amassed on Okinawa in an unusually diverse show of force this week. IIn a May 6 “Elephant Walk,” Kadena Air Base showcased 24 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters, eight F-15E Strike Eagles; two U.S. Army Patriot anti-missile batteries near the runway; and…