The Air Force and Army have reached an agreement on employment and disposition of the new C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft, Gen. Norton Schwartz told lawmakers last week. The Air Force Chief of Staff said he had just talked with his counterpart in the Army, Gen. George Casey, to ensure he “was comfortable” with the game-plan report USAF expected to deliver to Congress “shortly.” Last year, the Pentagon gave the entire program to the Air Force. The National Guard Bureau announced last fall the beddown locations for the first 24 aircraft, six Air National Guard units will each get four aircraft. Schwartz told a House Appropriations panel on the service’s 2011 military construction budget request, “The other 14 aircraft will be beddown at three locations of four each, and then two aircraft will be for training, which will be associated with one of the first six locations.”
Defense experts say the drone threat represents only part of a larger, looming problem: U.S. air bases in the Pacific are increasingly vulnerable to air attacks.