Air Force Global Strike Command recently held a global strike workshop at Barksdale AFB, La., with Pacific Air Forces and Navy leaders to develop joint plans to integrate AFGSC assets in various scenarios. “We’re getting away from the idea of operating in our own bubbles when it comes to fighting effectively,” said 8th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Scott Vander Hamm, who also served as the lead general officer for the session. The workshop, held Oct. 6-10, tested operational planning and integration of AFGSC assets in a joint scenario, including the ability to use AFGSC’s range of weapons systems to limit aggression and deter threats, according to an Oct. 15 release. The team evaluated the full range of capabilities in AFGSC’s portfolio, against a hostile, near-peer force, by going over multiple scenarios a joint force commander could face in a contested environment. This allowed planners to evaluate AFGSC’s capabilities in a joint response, and what they would do. The scenarios exercised focused significantly on maritime, space, cyber, and electronic warfare integration, and overcoming anti-access, area-denial capabilities by using weapons “effectively and efficiently,” said Col. Michael Tichenor, the AFGSC inspector general. The GSW is part of a larger series of workshops designed to give combatant commanders realistic views on how forces can be employed.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
