JUST IN: Forget Hardened Bases, Pacific Conflict Requires Agile Combat Employment, Commander Says
3/8/2023
By Sean Carberry
F-22 Raptor departs for Agile Reaper exercise
Air Force photo
AURORA, Colorado — Given that U.S. adversaries today possess precision-guided weapons that can penetrate even hardened bases and facilities, it’s not cost-effective to invest in hardening to protect U.S. forces and weapons in the Pacific theater, said the commander of Pacific Air Forces.
Instead of trying to make facilities withstand attacks from precision munitions, the goal of Agile Combat Employment is to develop a hub and spoke network of small bases and facilities so if one gets hit, the losses are small, Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of Pacific Air Forces, said March 8 during a conversation with reporters at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium.
“From the Agile Combat Employment standpoint, what we're spending our dollars on this year is expanding the number of places that we can go to, and of the places that we're already at, expanding the capability at those places,” he said.
For example, the Air Force just deployed F-22 Raptors to the North Marianas Island of Tinian as part of operation Agile Reaper, which involved cross-training with Japanese and Australian forces.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/3/8/forget-hardened-bases-pacific-conflict-requires-agile-combat-employment-commander
