Who Should be Responsible for Air Base Defense?

摘要

The fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act gave the Secretaries of the Air Force and Army until June 21 to come up with a joint strategy for defending America's overseas air bases from missiles and for the best way to preposition material. Defending air bases is the Army's job, but it's never really been a priority for the service, according to multiple defense experts. Congress wants to change that, and an upcoming Defense Department-wide roles and missions review ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III also is likely to tackle the issue. What's not clear is if the Air Force will completely take over the task, if the Army will be forced to step up, or if the final solution will be more of a compromise.