Three C-130s and more than 70 airmen from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB, Japan, are participating in Cope West 11, a bilateral airlift exercise that began Monday at Halim Air Base, near Jakarta, Indonesia. Operating jointly with Indonesian airmen and a single Indonesian air force C-130, the two nations’ personnel “will share tactics, techniques, and procedures of air mobility operations and, by the end of the week, be collectively better, more capable, air forces,” stated Lt. Gen. Stanley Kresge, 13th Air Force commander. Working side by side, aircrews, ground crews, and support personnel will focus on cooperating in a contingency environment. “We have a full week of classroom exchanges, field demonstrations, and flight operations lined up to give these airmen the chance to link up and exchange ideas,” highlighted Lt. Col. Peter Kelley, 374th AW Cope West detachment commander. (Halim report by Capt. Raymond Geoffroy)
More than 100 B-21s will be needed if the nation is to avoid creating a high demand/low capacity capability, panelists said on a Hudson Institute webinar. The B-21's flexibility, stealth, range and payload will be in high demand for a wide range of missions, both traditional and new.