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Verbatim
March 23, 2022
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Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Never Satisfied
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy March 2, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Office of the President of Ukraine
Everyone thinks that we are far away from America or Canada. No, we are in this zone of freedom. And when the limits of rights and freedoms are being violated and stepped on, then you have to protect us. Because we will come first. You will come second. Because the more this beast will eat, he wants more, more, and more.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, interview with ABC news, March 7.
Money Well Spent
All but five years of the United States Air Force’s life as a service, there’s always been a B-52. … And guess what, there will be a B-52 until 2050.
Gen. Anthony J. Cotton at the AFA Warfare Symposium (AWS) in Orlando, Fla., March 3.
That’s Not a Good Boy
I feel like a chew toy between different combatant commanders where they’re pulling and asking for more Air Force capability to go to different places. Because the Air Force is the one service that can get there faster than anybody else, except for the space portion.USAF CSAF Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., at AWS March 3.
Technology for $200, Alex
CMSAF Joanne Bass at the AFA Warfare Symposium in March. Mike Tsukamoto/staff
I am hopeful that we are actually going to [digitize] WAPS testing. Like, it is 2022, if we can’t get out of taking a No. 2 pencil into promotion tests, something is wrong.CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass, March 3 at AWS.
On Second Thought …
Mr. Putin says that he doesn’t want a strong NATO on his western flank. He’s getting exactly that. … I can honestly say that I have never seen the alliance more relevant and more united and more resolute than I see it today.Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, press conference after NATO Defense Ministerial, Feb. 17.
Hard Labor
President Salome Zourabichvili. Office of the President of Georgia
Putin has already failed, because he has given birth to a monster: European power and European defense.Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia, quoted in the New York Times, March 2.
Peaceful Growth
We will advance the peaceful growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait and the reunification of China. We firmly oppose any separatist activities seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and firmly oppose foreign interference.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, address to Parliament, Reuters, March 5.
Upgrades Needed
U.S. Navy Adm. Charles Richard delivers testimony via Zoom from STRATCOM headquarters during a Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Hearing: “Fiscal Year 2023 Strategic Forces Posture Hearing” March 1, 2022, in Washington, DC. House Armed Services Committee
The strategic security environment is now a three-party nuclear near-peer reality. Our existing nuclear forces are the minimum required to achieve our national strategy. We must modernize and recapitalize the nation’s nuclear triad, nuclear command and control, nuclear complex, and supporting infrastructure to meet presidential objectives.Adm. Charles A. Richard, STRATCOM commander, HASC strategic forces subcommittee, March 1.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Congress set the legal floor for how many primary mission aircraft the Air Force had to have in its fighter force in 2018, requiring at least 1,145 fighters through Oct. 1, 2026. In each of the past past two legislative cycles, lawmakers agreed to reduce the number. But when the House passed…
Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who was wounded in an attack while serving in Washington, D.C., is making “extraordinary progress,” while being treated at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the West Virginia National Guard recently announced.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited the site of U.S. Space Command’s future home Dec. 12 and endorsed the move to establish the headquarters in Alabama after years of political back and forth.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, head of U.S. Northern Command, told lawmakers that NORTHCOM has no plans to use U.S. cities as “training grounds” as President Donald Trump recently suggested to a room full of his top military leaders.
Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew with Japanese fighters over the Sea of Japan after a string of Chinese provocations toward Japan—including a joint bomber patrol with Russia—in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan.
More than a quarter-century after handing over the mission to the Navy, the Air Force is taking the first steps towards taking back over a critical nuclear command, control, and communications function.
The Air Force plans to conduct more intensive training—and Congress is set to help by boosting funding for exercises and so-called “campaigning” by hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly in the Pacific.
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