The high operations tempo for airmen in Europe shows no sign of abating given the heightened uncertainty in the region and the world, says the Air Force’s top commander in Europe.
In the future, U.S. Air Forces in Europe may need to rely on supplemental forces from elsewhere to maintain current operations in the long term in eastern Europe, said Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa.
“We can work it from here in the short term,” he said in an interview Monday with Stars and Stripes. “It can’t go on forever.”
When Gorenc took charge of USAFE-AFAFRICA in August 2013, the command was recovering from the unprecedented stand-down of several Europe-based fighter squadrons due to sequestration budget cuts.
As the march to wind down the war in Afghanistan was underway and the United States was shifting its military focus to the Pacific region, Europe braced for yet more post-Cold War reductions.
Then, at the end of February, Russia invaded the Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
Operations in Europe haven’t eased up since.
