The new headquarters building at Fairchild AFB, Wash., is expected to be open for business this Spring. Officials cut the ribbon on the $12 million building on March 20, officials said. It replaces the 71-year-old headquarters building, known as the “White House,” in which a total of 10 units, ranging from major commands, bomb wings, to the current air refueling wing, as well as subordinate and tenant units, have served, according to a March 19 release. “Despite it all, the White House has been a constant,” said Jim O’Connell, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing historian. “It has been ever vigilant, standing watch over our base over the course of these past 71 years. It will be hard to see the White House, a great icon from our base history, end its chapter.”
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.