US Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein and Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich signed the memorandum of understanding that facilitates the stand-up of a US Air Force aviation detachment in Poland on an enduring, full-time basis for military-to military engagement and joint training exercises. Under the agreement, the United States intends to establish the detachment in 2012, followed by rotational deployments of USAF aircraft beginning in 2013. “The detachment of personnel will support rotations of aircraft like US F-16s or C-130s to Poland for approximately two week periods four times per year,” states a release from the US embassy in Warsaw on the occasion of Monday’s signing. The parties did not announce the site of the detachment, but the plan is to utilize an existing Polish air force location. The joint training exercises include the potential “use of fifth generation fighter aircraft,” according to the MOU (full text). (Feinstein statement)
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
