Fighting from the Inside: Air and Missile Defense of Forward Locations
This transcript is made possible through the sponsorship of Schneider Electric
Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.):
Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Dave Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute for
Aerospace Studies and thanks very much for joining us today for our panel on Air and Missile Defense of
Forward Operating Bases.
Now, I don't need to tell this audience that this is a crucial topic and at Mitchell Institute we're going to
be releasing a report on this subject later in the year. That said, we wanted to kick off the conversation
as soon as possible, and that's why I'm really glad that we have the panelists that were able to join us
today. The American way of war centers on credible, sustainable power projection. Our adversaries
know that and that's why they've invested heavily in an array of offensive systems to hold our forward
operating bases at risk. We need to be able to defeat those systems and sustain our combat operations.
That's no small challenge. It'll demand new technologies, concepts of operations and tactics. Bottom line
is, the Air Force and the Space Force need to be able to operate under attack.
So without further delay, let me introduce our panelists. First, it's my pleasure to welcome Lieutenant
General Dave Harris, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures. We're also happy to have retired
General Gary "Nordo" North with us. He's currently the Vice President for Customer Requirements at
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. And prior to that, he served as the Commander of Pacific Air Forces. And
finally, we're pleased to be joined by Mr. Paul Ferraro, President of Air Space Defense Systems for
Raytheon. He's a tremendous expert on how to get after solving this challenging problem set. So
gentlemen, welcome. Let's jump right into the conversation.
Nordo, let's start with you. Could you paint the audience a picture of how the threat in the Pacific has
changed since you were PACAF commander and what do you think and how do you think we can
generate combat power while under attack?
Gen. Gary L. North, USAF (Ret.):
Yeah, thanks Dave, and thanks to you and Mitchell Institute and AFA for all the work. And for those in
the audience, General Deptula, of course, served in the Pacific quite a bit, 13th Air Force Commander,
Vice Commander of the Pacific. So anything that we can't answer, he knows. And so what's changed? I
spent a tremendous amount of my later years in the Air Force in the Pacific and watching not only China
but North Korea. What I think has changed over the years is they've spent the last 30-plus years
watching us. Since China's last defeat in their war against Vietnam, they have decided that they are
going to be both militarily strong and they're going to take advantage of technology. And as one of our
very senior leaders yesterday said, they don't operate under a continuing resolution. So they put a
tremendous amount of money, time, and effort with their technologies, their advances in both civilian
and military industry and then the use of military power.
And so what has changed over the years? Years ago, we all believed that they would be militarily
capable by about 2012 to do whatever they wanted to do in a regional conflict. I left the Pacific as the
Director of Operations in 2006, went to the Middle East, came back to the Pacific three and a half years
later and was astounded at the dramatic rate of both their technological improvement and then their
military ability to operate in a joint and defined warfare environment. That was 2009 to 2012. Since
then, they have learned dramatically, they have spread their wings, if you will, and their joint operations
and exercising not only in what we would know as traditional kinetic warfare, but non-kinetic capability
has been absolutely astounding. You could see that in the unclassified domain.
