Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Gary North said “places not bases” will be a key part of US strategy in the future. Speaking Thursday on a panel on contingency operations at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., North said he was happy that the Pentagon’s new defense strategy “gives us positioning power in the Pacific.” He added: “Our friends and our allies want a strong US presence in the region.”
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
