The North American Aerospace Defense Command, headquartered in Colorado, announced Tuesday that it plans to conduct a cooperative air defense exercise with the Russian air force in early August. The focus of the joint exercise will be on combating terrorism. It will take place both in US and Russian airspace, including western Alaska and eastern Russia. NORAD said the exercise scenario calls for both US and Russian aircraft to monitor an international flight seized by terrorists. Obama Administration officials have said they hoped that US-Russia cooperation in strategic arms reduction would lead to greater bilateral cooperation in other defense areas.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
