French Lt. Gen. Gilles Desclaux, France’s commander in chief of air defense and air operations, visited Barksdale AFB, La., Jan. 25-28 at the invitation of 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Elder. The two discussed ongoing operations, including each country’s nuclear mission, along with USAF’s plans to stand up Air Force Global Strike Command. “[The meetings] improved relations and understanding between the two countries as far as military operations in the strategic role and air defense and air operations,” said Col. West Anderson, chief of staff at 8th Air Force. Desclaux also toured the base and got the chance to ride along on a B-52 sortie. He was reportedly impressed with the aircraft’s capabilities. Before departing Barksdale, Desclaux extended an invitation to Elder to pay a reciprocal visit to France to continue the discussions. (Barksdale report by SrA. David Zheng)
The future U.S. bomber force could provide a way for the Pentagon to simultaneously deter conflict with peer adversaries in two geographically disparate theaters, said Mark Gunzinger, the director of future concepts and capability assessments at AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, during a March 21 event. But doing so…