photo caption: "Gen Kenneth S Wilsbach, commander of Pacific Air Forces, speaks with retired Lt Gen David A Deptula during an Aerospace Nation event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on March 20, 2023. Photo by Samantha Mitchell/Air & Space Forces Magazine
quote:
(i) "Speaking at an Aerospace Nation event hosted by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Wilsbach said March 20 that air superiority is a joint endeavor of the U.S. and its allies in the region, and includes everything from combat jets to tankers, airlifters, and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and command and control assets like the E-7 Wedgetail.
" 'It starts with the E-7 [based on Boeing 737],' Wilsbach said. 'Having domain awareness is important. [The reason] why we need the E-7 so badly is because our current fleet of E-3s are challenged remarkably, just getting them in the air.' " (insertion original)
"The E-3s now average more than 42 years old and are based on a Boeing 707 airframe that is hardly in use anywhere any longer.
" 'Our maintainers are doing great work to keep those things in flying order, but [the aircraft] are old and they take a lot of maintenance to keep them in optimal condition,' Wilbach said. '[sic] And then the other fact is 'Even [sic; my guess is that the apostrophe before And then is valid; 'Even should be even] when they're perfectly in order and they get airborne, they don't necessarily see what they need to see in the 21st century modern warfare. The E-7 does … and so the E-7 is absolutely critical.”
"The Air Force is contracted with Boeing to supply the E-7 and anticipates getting the first aircraft in 2027. * * *
(ii) "USAF is also working with the Australians on developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the semi-autonomous drones that will fly alongside crewed fighters in the future, adding combat mass and new capabilities. The Royal Australian Air Force worked with Boeing to develop its MQ-28 Ghost Bat, which is similar to the U.S. CCA concept.
“We really look forward to what they’re doing with the MQ-28 Ghost Bat there,” Wilsbach said. “They are doing some great work figuring out exactly how to use this aircraft and we look forward to seeing what they learned and then perhaps applying that to our CCA program ourselves.”
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said two weeks ago the service envisions a notional fleet of 1,000 CCAs—or even as many as 2,000—to help deter, and if necessary, fight the substantial forces of China in the Pacific. Wilsbach acknowledged that in a peer fight like that, the Air Force must anticipate significant losses, so mass will make a difference.
(iii) "Also critical is access to resilient, dispersed basing, which lessens reliance on major bases and increases complexity for adversary missile strikes. USAF’s adoption of Agile Combat Employment [(ACE)], in which small teams of Airmen deploy and operate from remote locales, often performing duties outside their usual specialties, “is becoming more of a theme for more and more of our allies and partners,' Wilsbach said.
"Developing the ACE concept further, the Air Force is building up small airfields throughout the Pacific, working with the State Department and Pentagon to negotiate access to more airfields, and even develop and share new technologies to make airfield repair faster.
" 'This quick-drying concrete that we have, you pour it and it’s the consistency of a milkshake when it goes in the hole,” he said. “And 45 minutes later, you can walk on it. Three hours later, you can land a C-17 on it.”
Every Airman in PACAF practices the concept in some form or fashion, Wilsbach said, and now they’re also helping to spread the word to allies.
" 'Japan and Australia are fantastic Agile Combat Employment partners
Note:
(i) Gen Wilsbach used "obsession" which is translated as "执念."
(ii) Pacific Air Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Air_Forces
("the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command")
(iii) Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies says in its website (https://mitchellaerospacepower.org) that it is a think tank based in Arlington, Virginia. The website also says, "Army Brig Gen William Mitchell, for whom the Mitchell Institute is named, was a visionary of early airpower."
Lt Gen David A Deptula, USAF (Ret[ired]) serves as Dean of the Mitchell Institute.
"The US military would have to focus on sinking Chinese ships if a war broke out over Taiwan, according to the commander of the United States' Pacific Air Forces.
"That's one of the lessons Gen Kenneth Wilsbach took from the scramble of military activity that accompanied a visit by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to the island in August 2022.
" 'You saw when Speaker Pelosi went to Taiwan, what [China] did with their ships,' Wilsbach told reporters at the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, on Wednesday. 'They put them on the east side of Taiwan' -- the side opposite China -- 'as a sort of blockade.' " (insertion original)
"Surface-to-air missiles onboard the ships would give the Chinese military the ability to create what Wilsbach called an 'anti-access/area denial engagement zone' -- a zone where its enemies might not want to fly because of the risk of getting shot down.
My comment:
(a) Air & Space Forces Association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_%26_Space_Forces_Association
(1946- ; Founded at Colorado Springs [where Air Force Academy is located; 'Colorado Springs is 69 miles (111 km) * * * south of Denver': Wikipedia], Colorado; Headquarters Arlington, Virginia; "AFA publishes Air & Space Forces (retitled from Air Force Magazine in September 2022) * * * It also runs the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies")
(b)
(i) Pelosi arrived at Taipei Tuesday night (local time), Aug 2, 2022.
(ii) Greg Torode and Yimou Lee, US Navy deploys four warships east of Taiwan as Pelosi heads to Taipei. Reuters, Aug 2, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/as ... -taipei-2022-08-02/
("The person [Reuters did not say if that person was Taiwanese or American] said three other Chinese warships on Tuesday carried out drills to simulate attacks on carrier-borne aircraft in waters east of Taiwan.")
This is the only reference that I can find in English-language news reports about China's dispatching warships to east of Taiwan before or during Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. And China did conduct military "drills" around Taiwan (not just east of Taiwan) AFTER the visit. Neither China's warships nor America's east of Taiwan was made public. I do note that the airplane that Pelosi board and air escorts went into Taipei from the east.