A persistent presence: Pacific Air Forces: 100 million square miles of nonstop responsibility

Airman, July-August, 2008 by Orville F. Desjarlais, Jr.

It would take a C-17 Globemaster III more than 60 hours of nonstop flying to skirt the edges of Pacific Air Forces' area of responsibility. It's an area that includes 16 time zones and 43 countries in 100 million square miles.

It encompasses the smoggy shores of Los Angeles to the pristine coasts of Alaska. The midnight sun of the Arctic to the land of the rising sun in Japan, and from the hot west coast of Africa to the icy glaciers of the Antarctic.

That's a big area--half the world's surface--and a lot of responsibility, which falls squarely on the shoulders of Gen. Carrol "Howie" Chandler. Pacific Air Forces commander. He's also the air component commander for U.S. Pacific Command and executive director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

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With that many titles, it would be easy for anyone to be an uptight. clock-watching, fast-talking commander. But General Chandler is the opposite. He seems as cool and reflective as a mountain lake.

Sipping on a glass of lemonade, the U.S. Air Force Academy Class of '74 grad sat back in a brown leather chair in his office and explained everything about the Pacific Air Forces: What's important, what's happening today, what to expect in the future.

Command's importance

The general said that although the Pacific Rim may look peaceful, the area does have potential trouble spots.

"We're not at war in the Pacific but we're really not at peace, either," he said, pointing out terrorist operations in the Philippines, pirates in the Strait of Malacca in West Malaysia and the ever-present threat of North Korea.

"We're very fortunate that the guns are silent, because three of the world's 10 largest economies are located in this region of the world," the general said.

"Economic development and stability in this region is due, in large part, to the contributions of the U.S. security umbrella, along with our allies and coalition partners," he said. "If you look at developments in the Pacific, our high-end adversaries are getting better. They're making smart investments across the entire spectrum--militarily and economically--in this part of the world.

"So, while we continue to work on low-end capabilities, we must also keep an eye on the high-end competition," he said. "We'll continue to posture forces--people and equipment--where we need them in the Pacific to do what the nation needs us to do."

In some cases that means providing relief when natural disasters--like the typhoons, floods and earthquakes--strike, like those that hit Burma and China in May 2008.

"We are very grateful that the Burmese government allowed us to do one of the things our great Air Force men and women do extremely well--provide immediate and effective humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to affected regions all over the world," General Chandler said.

Posturing weapons systems in the theater shows the command's importance, he said. Three of the seven programmed F-22 Raptor squadrons in the Air Force are, or will be, at command bases. And the only two overseas-based C-I7 Globemaster III squadrons are in the command. Plus, there are plans to beddown RQ-4 Global Hawks at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

"One of the things we continually emphasize here is a persistent presence," he said. "It's important in this part of the world. What I'm describing here is being in a marathon, not a sprint."

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The Strategic Triangle

After he finished half his lemonade, the general got up and walked outside and continued to talk about what's happening at bases in the Pacific, specifically those that constitute the "Strategic Triangle"--bases in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam.

"Each of those bases is important because they allow us to project U.S. military capability off of U.S. soil," the general said. "The changes we're making at those bases today are going to dictate the direction PACAF is taking for years to come."

Called "50-year decisions." the general said each base in the Strategic Triangle is being postured for the future.

Standing in front of a static display of a Global Hawk erected at Hickam a week earlier, the general talked about stationing unmanned aircraft on Guam. Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle on steroids. It can fly for 3.5 hours straight, going more than 15,000 miles. And, when dealing with a 100-million-square-mile area, "that's a selling point," he said.

"Guam's strategic location in the Strategic Triangle makes it an ideal location for Global Hawks," General Chandler said. "It's not only exciting for us, but for our coalition allies. They, too, are interested in the same high-altitude, long endurance UAV-type system."

Unlike the Global Hawk's wartime mission on the front lines, the general sees many different ways to use the tenacious aircraft.

"I can see a multi-faceted use of the system," he said. "Unfortunately, we'll probably have to use the system for humanitarian efforts during disaster relief."

While Airmen at Andersen will launch and recover the unmanned aircraft, Airmen at Hickam will fly the missions remotely from the base's air operations center.