One thing that worries Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser is making sure that his combat forces get the training they need for the toughest potential fights. “There’s a different training requirement needed with irregular warfare versus the high end” of combat operations. He said keeping readiness levels “up where they need to be, should something else happen or if we’re called upon to perform somewhere else is probably the toughest piece in a resource-constrained environment.” Fraser said there will be increased use of distributed mission operations and simulation to keep his forces up to snuff for big wars even as they prosecute counterinsurgency.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.

