美国太平洋空军司令肯尼斯·威尔斯巴赫

choi

(1)
(a) 锺辰芳, 美空军将领：美要阻遏战争，但中国却难克服对台湾的 '执念.' VOA Chinese, Mar 21, 2023.
https://www.voachinese.com/a/us- ... 230320/7013812.html

Quote:

"美国太平洋空军司令肯尼斯·威尔斯巴赫(Gen Kenneth Wilsbach)上将星期一(3月20日)在一个线上讨论 * * * 威尔斯巴赫将军在美国空军协会米切尔航空航天研究所一场线上讨论 * * * 米切尔研究所所长、已退役的前美国空军副参谋长、退役中将大卫·德普图拉(David Deptula)在与威尔斯巴赫的对话中也深表认同，因为他曾参与战略与国际研究中心(CSIS)去年针对台海冲突举行的一系列非机密模拟战争，它的结论可以被公开讨论，而大家得到的结论也相当一致。

"最后，威尔斯巴赫说，俄乌战争至今已超过一年，但俄罗斯却仍然无法取得空优，这使他们付出巨大的生命代价，在这场冲突中已经有超过10万名俄罗斯人丧生，因此从人道主义的角度来说，他希望中国及其军队能想到的是，俄罗斯原先可以相对轻松从陆地跨越边境完成的行动，但却造成如此大量生命的牺牲，中国也应该想到攻打台湾必须付出的人道代价。   [quoting Wilsbach:] '中国有着军事行动中最困难的，那就是两栖登陆，而且还要克服超过100里的海洋 * * * '

"对于美国军方从俄乌战争学到的教训，威尔斯巴赫说，一是取得空中优势的重要性，二是如何在受到攻击的情况下对前线提供补给，这些都是俄罗斯军方至今仍然面对的困境，他们也为此付出极大的代价，所以他经常与空中机动司令部司令麦克尔·米尼汉(Michael Minihan)上将讨论如何加强补给能力、在遭到攻击时执行补给任务的问题。

(b) Greg Hadley, PACAF Commander: Air Superiority Is the Focus in Indo-Pacific. Air & Space Forces Magazine, Mar 20, 2023 (online publication or blog).
https://www.airandspaceforces.co ... ority-indo-pacific/

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.


(2) Amanda Miller, In a War Over Taiwan, First Step Needs to Be Sinking Chinese Ships, Air Force General Says. Military.com, Mar 8, 2023.
https://www.military.com/daily-n ... e-general-says.html

the first four paragraphs:

"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.