The Air Force’s capacity to do multiple big operations either simultaneously or in quick succession will end when the service implements budget cuts now in development, said Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and requirements, Thursday. The force is being shaped in order to “deal with a high-end adversary,” if necessary, he said during an Air Force Association-sponsored Air Force Breakfast Program presentation in Arlington, Va. The Air Force, he continued, “probably couldn’t do what we did last March,” when it supported not only operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also a new shooting war in Libya and a major relief effort in Japan. “We all know . . . what budget constraints we’re under right now,” said Carlisle. “Currently, we’re kind of a budget in search of a strategy.”
Gas is king in the vast expanse of the Pacific. And as the Pentagon has sought to build up its capability to deter China, the Department of Defense has undergone a major rethink about how to get fuel to the region. At the heart of the effort is the U.S. Transportation…