Brig. Gen. Stephen Wilson assumed command of 8th Air Force at Barksdale AFB, La., the organization under Air Force Global Strike Command that controls the nation’s nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 bombers. He succeeded Maj. Gen. Floyd Carpenter, who led 8th AF since June 2009 and is retiring, effective August 1. “I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled and honored I am to stand here before you,” said Wilson at the June 3 change-of-command ceremony. “Since its inception 1942, there is no more legendary or storied numbered air force in our history.” Wilson, whom President Obama has nominated to receive a second star, also became commander of US Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike. Wilson’s most recent a position was as director of joint integration on the Air Staff. (Barksdale report by SSgt. Brian Stives)
The future U.S. bomber force could provide a way for the Pentagon to simultaneously deter conflict with peer adversaries in two geographically disparate theaters, said Mark Gunzinger, the director of future concepts and capability assessments at AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, during a March 21 event. But doing so…