General Carrol H. Chandler,
Commander, Pacific Air Forces
AFA Air Warfare Symposium
Orlando, FL
February 21, 2008
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Moderator: Our next speaker is the Commander of Pacific Air Forces; Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command; and Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff at Hickam Air Force Base. Prior to this assignment he was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements. He has multiple command tours. He’s a command pilot with more than 3900 hours. How he got these hours with all this staff work that he did, I have no idea.
Please join me in welcoming the Commander of Pacific Air Forces, General Howie Chandler.
General Chandler: Let me say good afternoon. On behalf of the some 45,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve military and civilian men and women who are serving in the Pacific today, thank you Bob, and thanks Mike for the opportunity to tell their story today.
One of the very nice things about these particular get-togethers are seeing some of the friendly faces from your past. Today I saw one of those faces in the person of General Tiny West, arguably a friendly face. It reminded me of a very fond memory of a day on the ramp at Luke Air Force Base where the sun was shining, the flags were flying, the full glory of the 56th Fighter Wing was arrayed before us. While General West, the 19th Air Force Commander took the flag from the outgoing wing commander, General Marv Ezmon at the time. He turned to me, and as he handed me the flag I prepared myself for what I thought would be, and were quite honestly, some words of encouragement about leadership and where I should take the wing.
In fact that happened as he handed me the flag and looked down, and in the voice that you all know looked at me and said, “Chandler, don’t screw up. Particularly building the new golf course.” [Laughter].
I found those words to be most helpful over my career. So today, sir, I’m going to do my best not to screw up, but I want to talk a little bit about PACAF’s priorities to address the security challenges we face in the Pacific.
Every day in PACAF we focus on four things. Posturing our forces for our combatant commander, providing a range of responsive capabilities to PACOM, promoting regional security and stability, and taking care of our people. That being said, my continuing focus which is most likely in no way different than any PACAF commander before me is maintaining readiness to do what the nation requires of us from forward deployed locations while we balance the needs of our people and their families.
Now I’m sure most of you are familiar with the usual statistics concerning an area that covers half the world’s surface and contains over half the world’s population. Equally well known is what is referred to as the tyranny of distance that describes the PACOM AOR and its 41 countries from the West Coast of the U.S. to Africa.
As an example, Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, one of our closest bases in terms of distance to the West Coast, is closer to Tokyo than Los Angeles and nearer to Frankfurt than New York. Now that’s fair enough, but it’s equally important to look at the region in terms of what my predecessor described as the strategic triangle which is formed by our bases in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. It’s from this triangle that the United States Air Force is able to project the global vigilance, reach and power that you’ve heard about today, across the theater in the Pacific, all from U.S. soil.
Nations in the Pacific AOR share collective economic and security interests, many of which transcend national boundaries, including the unrestricted flow of commerce.
Increased globalization and interdependence drives the need for all of us in the Pacific to work closer as partners to ensure security and stability. Freedom of movement is especially critical when looking at the significance of the region’s overall economic impact. For example, Pacific nations account for 37 percent of the gross world product and the top three of our ten global economies are in the Pacific. The total economic output from the Pacific now rivals that of the U.S. and the European Union, and fully one-third of seaborne trade and 33 percent of the world’s oil pass through the Straits of Malacca annually. In short, the global vigilance, reach and power provided by the United States Air Force every day across the Pacific underpins the security and stability, allowing the unrestricted flow of commerce that in turn enables this economic development.
Now this doesn’t happen by accident, but through the efforts of the men and women who work every day to posture our forces, provide responsive capabilities to Pacific Command, promote security and stability, and of course take care of our airmen and their families.
Posturing our forces includes having bases, organizations and personnel properly organized, trained and equipped to meet the challenges across a spectrum of operations from humanitarian assistance to major regional contingencies. And while PACAF’s strategic triangle allows us to project air power from U.S. soil, our main bases in Japan and the Republic of Korea affirm our close ties and commitments with these nations as does the access to training opportunities in Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. All indications are that these relationships and cooperative training opportunities will continue to expand. That said, it’s my belief that persistent involvement is the key and we must be committed to long-term relationships in the region.
PACAF is repositioning and reorganizing people, training and equipment throughout the Pacific. We recently stood up the 36th Contingency Response Group at Anderson on Guam. The CRG combines Red Horse civil engineers with security forces, combat communications, and airlift mobility support squadrons, all assets required to set up an airfield.
These units are moving from bases around the Pacific to create a single unit under one commander that will train together and deploy rapidly anywhere theater-wide. Also on Guam we’re progressing with plans to bed down the Global Hawk at Anderson, beginning next year.
Three of the seven programmed F-22 Raptor squadrons will be assigned in the Pacific. PACAF’s organic airlift capability is greatly enhanced with the addition of two C-17 squadrons, one at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii and the other at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska.
Additionally the PACAF C-130 squadron at Yokota Air Base in Japan was recently upgraded with newer C-130 aircraft formerly based in Alaska. Another recent move sent Eielson Air Force Base block 40 CCIP avionics upgraded aircraft to Kunsan Air Base, Korea, and sent Kunsan’s Block 30 aircraft to Eielson to serve as 18th aggressors. This puts the night, all-weather capability of the Block 40 aircraft on the peninsula where, as you know, it’s essential.
Further down the road, Kadena Air Base, Japan and Eielson could potentially host the new F-35 LITENING 2.
We’re posturing forces in order to provide immediate and responsive capabilities. The United States Air Force has long articulated a vision of what we provide the nation in terms of global vigilance, reach and power.
I mentioned the bed down of Global Hawk in Guam starting next year. We want to capitalize on this capability and use it to develop ISR information sharing opportunities with our partners.
In addition to its warfighting capability the Global Hawk can play a valuable role in monitoring economic zones, countering piracy, assisting in natural disasters, and enhancing security around the Pacific. A PACAF-hosted Global Hawk capabilities forum will be conducted in April as an effort to discus show we might use high altitude, long endurance capability to work together. We plan to take interested regional partners to Beale Air Force Base in California to observe launch and recovery operations and then return to Hawaii to observe how the information has moved off-board Global Hawk and into the Air Operation Center.
Tankers based in Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, and rotationally on Guam provide the air bridge required to move fighters and other assets throughout the Pacific. Perhaps more than any other major command, PACAF relies on the USAF tanker fleet to dissuade, deter, and if necessary defeat our adversaries.
That said, the tanker fleet at Hickam ranges in age from 51 to 44 years of age. They average about seven hours of maintenance for each flying hour. Despite outstanding work by our depot to keep these aircraft flying, in the end we keep them in the air on the backs of our maintainers.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I’ll say again what’s been said before, it’s time to modernize the fleet and in sufficient numbers to do it as quickly as possible.
C-17 airlifters in the Pacific are critical to our strategy of providing immediate and responsive contingency capability. I’d like to share a few examples to emphasize the impact that our PACAF airmen are making. In July of 2007 PACAF deployed one C-17 from Hawaii with a team of 50 doctors and dentists as well as civil engineers to three Pacific islands. In the span of 96 hours, PACAF airmen cared for 4200 medical and dental patients, trained over a thousand residents in first aid and basic life support skills, and completed civil engineering projects on two clinics. We trained local medical providers and civil servants in skills they will use long after our team departed, and made numerous improvements to their facilities. All in a short time with a small forward footprint.
Two months ago PACAF airmen conducted an air drop to a stranded British tanker whose engine failed off the Antarctic coast. Flying form Christ Church in New Zealand, the C-17 crew air dropped engine parts from an altitude of 300 feet to within yards of the ship, enabling it to safely get underway with its 25 crew members.
And unheard of until just a few weeks ago, two PACAF C-17s delivered relief supplies to China after their worst winter storm in 50 years.
In addition to these accomplishments the Firebirds, the C-17 unit at Elmendorf, you need to listen closely, became the only unit to have transported an elephant in a C-17. I’m happy to report that Maggie is enjoying her retirement in southern California, far away from the Alaskan winter.
But it goes without saying that I’m extremely proud of what these PACAF airmen have accomplished and what they do every day.
For over four years there’s been a continuous bomber presence of B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers along with tanker aircraft at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam. We routinely deploy these forces to maintain a presence in the region and to demonstrate a continued U.S. commitment to security throughout the Western Pacific. That presence will continue.
We sent the F-22 Raptor to Kadena Air Base, Japan last year and provided an opportunity for our Air Force, Marine and Navy units as well as our Japanese partners to train with our first fifth generation fighter. We plan to continue that joint and combined training at Red Flag, Alaska and on Guam.
The critical aspect of global vigilance, reach and power is our ability to command and control air power from our air operation centers. One of the best-known AOCs, the HTAC under 7th Air Force at Osan Air Base in the Republic of Korea is the model for conducting combined operations. It was recently restructured in accordance with the latest C2 guidance, standardizing our presentation of operational support, planning and execution of airspace and cyber capabilities.
Our newest AOC at Hickam under 13th Air Force conducts operations throughout the remainder of the Pacific and will have close ties with the new Japanese bilateral air operation center being built at Yokota. It will also work closely with the Australian Operation Center in Canberra.
It’s through our posturing of forces and our ability to provide responsive capabilities that enables us to promote regional security and stability. For two years PACAF has implemented the Chief’s unified engagement event seminar to focus on diverse themes and provide a wealth of partnership opportunities. The unified engagement scenarios are set 10 to 20 years in the future and provide an opportunity to discuss how to better work with our partners across the full spectrum of conflict. Previous seminar topics have included counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as irregular warfare. We’ve conducted these games and seminars with a number of our Pacific partners including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and India, to name just a few.
These next two examples, combined live fly exercises, Cope Tiger and Red Flag, focus on partnership opportunities. I firmly believe that this type of training to teach our airmen how to fly, fight and win is essential to the success of our Air Force.
As you may know, we just concluded our 13th Annual Cope Tiger exercise with Singapore and Thailand at Korat and Udorn Royal Thai Air Bases. Four hundred U.S. airmen along with A-10s, KC-135s, AWACS and C-17s participated during this tactical training exercise.
At the strategic level this exercise helped renew our relationship with the Royal Thai Air Force in the period immediately after recertification of their newly elected government while tactically providing our airmen a realistic live fly environment to hone their critical combat skills.
As you heard earlier, the Chief has been very clear that Red Flag Alaska and Red Flag Nellis will be one Air Force exercise executed from two locations. That’s the equivalent and relevant for future and current threats. As my most important flying training exercise, PACAF will continue to improve our capability to meet our participants’ training objectives across all three domains.
Another way for us to develop and strengthen our relationships with our Pacific allies is through the Red Flag Alaska Executive Observer Program. This program is an opportunity for partner and allied senior officers to observe Red Flag activities first-hand and discuss coalition operations with counterparts from around the world. Eighteen different nations attended the Executive Observer Program in 2007 and overall the program offered an outstanding opportunity to exchange information and establish relationships between senior airmen while our junior officers do the same at the tactical level.
I’ve talked briefly about the roles and missions of PACAF. I’d also like to talk briefly about our number one asset and that would be the young men and women that make this happen every day.
Who are these young men and women? Well, they’re 45,000 total force dedicated Americans that field 375 aircraft providing the global vigilance, reach and power that we’ve talked about. Their accomplishments are many and varied and they range from fighting the global war on terror to maintenance activities to Air Force Smart Operations 21 Initiatives.
On average, about 2,050 PACAF airmen are deployed every day. That’s in addition to the approximately 6800 7th Air Force airmen deployed on the Korean Peninsula, most on a one year remote assignment.
PACAF sent an F-16 squadron from Misawa earlier this year to fly combat patrols and provide close air support in the CENTCOM AOR and today C-130s from Yakota are providing airlift, and the Alaska Air National Guard and Kadena both have HH-60s deployed to CENTCOM as well.
We’ve also been busy in our own backyard with OAF counter-terrorism support in the Philippines.
Despite our aging fleet, PACAF maintainers take great pride in keeping our aircraft mission ready and in fact they do a great job. This year they won the General Wilbur Creech Award as the MAJCOM with the most improved maintenance performance in 2007, despite over 450 maintenance and munitions PBD-720 personnel cuts across PACAF.
PACAF’s airmen are great innovators. Through AFSO-21 we asked them to take a look at how we do business and tell us how we can do it better and more efficiently. We fielded 43 PACAF initiatives in FY07 and saved directly or through cost avoidance over $63 million while recovering 198,000 man hours.
Let me conclude by seasoning what I’ve said with some hard facts. The world’s five largest armed forces are in the PACOM AOR. Of these, one is far from transparent with its intentions while investing heavily in fourth generation fighters and associated weaponry, double digit SAMs and surface-to-surface missile capabilities. Another has doubled its defense spending between 2001 and 2007 while marketing fourth generation aircraft and double digit SAM technology around the world, and has resumed Cold War like long range aviation flights into the Pacific and Arctic. A third has developed nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles while its population starves.
Now the Pacific is not a theater at war, but it’s not a theater at peace. Our high end competition is good and it’s getting better. PACAF must maintain high end capabilities while conducting low end operations. While PACAF is smaller today in numbers of people and aircraft than it was when I was assigned there in the early 1980s, it’s much more capable, in fact I think a demonstration of our Air Force’s commitment to the Pacific.
We’ve come a long way in the Pacific, both in how we posture our forces and how we engage with our partners. But I would tell you that we’re in a marathon, it’s not a sprint. The relative calm we find today in the Pacific is due in large part to the airmen before us who worked hard and at times fought hard to establish security and stability.
We cannot afford to do less today. In my opinion the region is too important for our future.
With that, again, I’d like to say thank you to Mr. Largent, Mr. Dunne. It’s been an honor for me to represent the airmen of PACAF here in Orlando. Any measure of success we’ve achieved can be attributed directly to them. But thank you for giving me an opportunity to tell a bit of their story today and I’d be more than happy to entertain any questions that you might have.
[Applause].
Moderator: Thank you, General Chandler.
The first question is regards to the Korean Peninsula. As this audience knows, the North Korean threat has not diminished. The other sideways factor that most of you may not realize is that they have not kept a single agreement they have ever signed in history. At the same time, the South is arming, buying modern weapon systems, and continuing to get better and better and better. What changes do you foresee on U.S. Air Force presence on the Peninsula in the future? Can you tell us about the changes that are underway today?
General Chandler: You’re exactly right. The South Korean military is incredibly capable. If you look at where the ROKAF has come over the last 20 years, they too have done a credible job not only in terms of equipping but organizing and training.
What we will start to see on the Korean Peninsula and we have started to see already, is a reduction in our Army forces on the Peninsula. It’s my opinion that we will continue to come down to somewhere in the vicinity of about 25,000 Americans on the Peninsula. You’ll see a ramp-up in what the Republic of Korea Army is expected to do in terms of its capability. You’ll see a ramp-up in what the ROKAF is expected to do in its capability. But you’ll also see a reliance on the United States Air Force, the United States Navy aviation in how we play a part in what goes on on the Peninsula.
Said another way, we will stay at Osan with a squadron of F-16s and A-10s. We will stay at Kunsan with now two squadrons of Block 40 F-16s, both of which will be upgraded in terms of avionics to CSEP capability. And that’s what we see for the future.
But you’re exactly correct. While there is a certain amount of hope in what we see in the 6-Party Talks, what you're seeing today is what we have seen numerous times in the past in terms of our ability to actually see follow-through with what comes out of the talks. So again, what we do on the Peninsula needs to be done from a position of strength.
Moderator: Recent reports show there’s a lot of cyber activity coming out of China. In fact the most recent reports report a denial service by China into the Pentagon, even into the Deputy Secretary’s electronic in-box. Do you see this type of activity across PACAF? Are the Chinese complicit in some of these activities?
General Chandler: We do see that in PACAF. In fact part of my notes in preparation to come here explained the fact that the Chinese are probably one of our most potent threats in the cyber area. They’ve been very good at that in the past. We’ve seen intrusions in the Pacific. I would also tell you that when we exercise in the Pacific we see continued intrusions.
Of course that’s something we’re going to have to continue to deal with. They do this in numbers that you don’t see in other places, and they do it with a technical capability that you don’t see in a number of other places. I think it will obviously continue to be a threat that we’re going to have to honor in the future, and as Bob said, we’re going to have to be able to use that element of our power in order to sustain the other two.
Moderator: In the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia, and particularly Indonesia, there was a lot of press on the fact that there was not a good warning system. We had a good warning system probably in the Pacific, but not in the Indian Ocean and some of the adjacent seas to Indonesia. Is this now fixed? And would it have helped, given some of the backward cities and towns that we found along some of the islands in Indonesia?
General Chandler: I think any form of warning would have helped. I would also tell you that as a result of that we have done a lot of work with our Indonesian friends as well as our other friends in the region in terms of establishing our ability to feed them information, to allow them to warn their populace, although be it probably not in the same fashion that we’re able to do that in this country.
Is it fixed to everyone’s satisfaction to guarantee that we won’t have a loss of life again? Absolutely not. Is it better than it was prior to the tsunami that we experienced in Bande Aceh? Absolutely.
Moderator: The forward base at Guam is getting a lot more resources and activities, yet at the same time it is within range of some of the North Korean missiles. Are we taking steps at the same time to protect this base and do we have missile defense plans scheduled for it in the future?
General Chandler: We’ll work on Guam exactly the way we worked at Osan and Kunsan and Kadena in terms of missile defense to protect the assets that we assign there.
Doug Owens, the wing commander there, does an absolutely fabulous job. Today he’s working on two or three what I would call 50 year decisions at Anderson. He’s getting ready to bed-down ISR strike which will do some of the things that we’ve talked about in terms of hardening. He’s also working on the joint basing initiative there on Guam which is actually going quite well. It seems the further you get away from Washington the easier it is to work the joint basing initiative. I’m not quite sure why that’s true. [Laughter].
He’s looking at having 8,000 Marines move onto the island which will in fact increase the population of Guam by almost 25 percent.
Now one of the things that I push back on fairly frequently is when I sit down with my friends that are other than Air Force that say this is really great, we’ve got $12 billion and a clean sheet of paper on Guam. But we don’t exactly have a clean sheet of paper. We’ve got an Air Force installation from which we fought to major conflicts, which we need to be prepared if called upon to fight from again. We’re more than willing to work with the other services as we do that, but we need to take into account the operational imperatives for Anderson Air Base as we do it.
The Marines have been very good at the way we’ve been able to work our way through this. The Army, albeit a little later I think than we anticipated, have come in with some of the missile defense type things that we’re talking about. So again, I think you’ll see Anderson start to build. It’s going to take us some time to do that because of the infrastructure on the island. Our goal, from an Air Force perspective, is to begin our ISR strike bed-down before the huge wave of construction requirements come in in order to move the Marines onto Guam itself.
But I would tell you in the end it’s going to provide a platform that I think will be second to none for what we need it for.
Moderator: Most of this audience may realize it, but both Japan and Korea have been huge allies in the war on terrorism. Can you tell us a little bit about what their contributions have been?
General Chandler: First of all, you’re exactly right. They’ve done refueling for our Navy in terms of Japan. They have carried some of our airlift load with C-130s. Both countries have had doctors and people that have done some rebuilding assistance in both countries.
Japan today is an interesting place to go. They are probably the number two country in the world in terms of working with us on missile defense, for all the reasons that you understand. Our relationship with Japan is basically foundational for what we do in the rest of the region. Our relationship with the Japanese is important not only to the Japanese, but to the Koreans as well. For all the reasons that you understand.
So having had an opportunity to go to both Japan and Korea in my first month on the job and having met with both of their Air Chiefs, I would tell you that we have a very solid foundation to build on and they’re both very very anxious to continue what Paul Hester had begun.
I think there’s a bit of a bonus in this also in that the elections in Korea, based on the feedback I got from both their Air Chief and the Chairman of their Joint Chiefs, is that things are going to be a lot easier in terms of our ability to work with the Republic of South Korea over the next years.
Moderator: We have I know somewhere in the audience the New Zealand Air Attaché. I was wondering what your thoughts were on moving forward with the old ANZUS Treaty and what changes you might see that either the United States might make or New Zealand might make since it’s coming up with an important election in the future to revitalize that relationship.
General Chandler: I’ll look to the audience to be corrected if need be. I had an opportunity to talk to the New Zealand Air Chief in Singapore day before yesterday, the Vice Chief. I’m just going to have to be as frank as I can be. He and I had a very good discussion but I do not think politically you will see a change in our relationship in the near future.
Now having said that, I will tell you that New Zealanders have been great hosts for us as we work Operation Deep Freeze. They talk to us through a gamut of issues but I don’t foresee anytime in the near future where we would have them back into the headquarters, unfortunately. We would obviously like to do that but I don’t see that occurring any time in the near future. There will be some opportunities to work together, but probably not at a very high level.
Moderator: India. We are moving closer to India as a nation, India being the world’s largest democracy. I know PACAF has got an exercise schedule set up with the Indians, and of course we’ve actually had some issues in dealing with some of their fourth generation aircraft. What do you see going forward with bilateral mil-to-mil relationships with the Indian Air Force?
General Chandler: Again, I was fortunate in Singapore to be able to sit down with the Indian Air Chief who is extremely interested in continuing the relationship that my predecessor had with India.
What you see as you talk to the Air Chiefs in the region is a continuous thread of wanting to be close to the United States Air Force. Even the Vietnamese, which I found a little interesting when we talk to them are looking for ways to be closer to the United States Air Force. Not all of them necessarily want to call us allies. Sometimes the word partner fits better. That’s okay. But in terms of India, first of all I would tell you they have a very proud Air Force with a very rich history. They also have a very capable Air Force. They also live in an environment that they consider to be and in some cases is a fairly bad neighborhood. They’re concerned about all the turmoil in the region. But they are looking for ways, one material example is the recent signing of a sales agreement for six C-130J, which I think is a first step toward bringing us closer together.
Of course we will continue to work with India in various exercise arrangements, either in India or in Alaska, and most recently they are actually on their way to Red Flag, and they’re very proud of that. They’ve been working very hard to go there. And you can get when they get there, they will do very well. That’s typically been the experience that we’ve had with the Indian Air Force.
So I look forward to continuing that relationship. I think we have a potential here to develop a relationship that will stand us in good stead with frankly the world’s largest democracy and someone that can offer a lot of assistance in terms of security and stability in the region.
Moderator: A final question, and this one you can choose to answer or not. Do you see a time in the future with China’s growing power that PACAF would work closely, to include even exercises, with Taiwan?
General Chandler: That one obviously is not going to be my call or Admiral Keating’s call, so that one’s a tough question to answer. Let me take it from another angle, though.
My predecessor was able to visit China. I’ve recently received a request from the Commander of the Nanjing Military District, Air Force, directly across from Taiwan, to visit PACAF Headquarters in August. So we’re going to do that. There’s a glimmer out there that we may be able to make them understand what our intentions are. The issue we face is, we do not understand what their intentions are and they don’t seem to be very open about being able to tell us. That then begets the opportunity for miscalculation.
I had an opportunity to talk to the Taiwanese Air Chief. They’re very interested in being as close to the U.S. as they can. They’re very interested in further sales of the F-16, for example. Quite honestly, there’s going to need to be a better relationship in the political arena before we’re going to be able to press forward with that.
I don’t see a time, given the One China policy and where we are right now with Taiwan and where we’re going with China, that we would actually necessarily be involved in exercises with one at the exclusion of the other. That remains to be seen.
Moderator: General Chandler, on behalf of all of us at AFA and this great audience, thank you very much for your thoughts. And please, everyone join me in giving General Chandler a round of applause.
[Applause].
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