US Joint Forces Command is likely to fall victim to the Pentagon’s belt tightening, but that won’t affect the US relationship with NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, which is also based in Norfolk, Va. That according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who spoke to defense reporters in Washington D.C., Tuesday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that President Obama close JFCOM, but “We have no plans to move ACT, and personally I do believe that it makes sense to have a NATO headquarters also in the United States, not only in Europe,” said Rasmussen.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.