The Air Force on Thursday announced the upcoming retirement of Lt. Gen. Stephen Hoog, assistant vice chief of staff and director of the Air Staff, according to an internal USAF memo. Hoog, who has served in his current position since August 2013, also serves as the deputy chairman of the Air Force Council and is the USAF accreditation official for the international Corps of Air Attachés. A 1979 graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Hoog is a command pilot with more than 3,700 flying hours, including 181 combat hours over Bosnia and Iraq, according to his official biography. The announcement did not give the official date of retirement.
It is critical that the Air Force move forward on the replacement for its E-4B “Doomsday” aircraft to keep the capability “viable” into the next decade and beyond, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told lawmakers May 8.