February 11, 2026 at 7:03 AM
With an eye on China, Air Force hones its hub-and-spoke approach to basing
“The strategic attention is here in this theater,” undersecretary says during a visit to the Indo-Pacific.
Airmen with the 752nd Operations Support Squadron setup the Tactical Operations Center – Light in Misawa, Japan, during exercise Resolute Force Pacific 2025, July 25, 2025. U.S. Air Force / Morgan Brown By Jennifer Hlad Managing Editor, Defense One February 11, 2026 Air Force Indo-Pacific China JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii—Today’s Air Force leaders aren’t axing quite all of the previous administration’s efforts to prepare for a possible fight with China.
Service leaders are continuing to implement Agile Combat Employment—it's a hub-and-spoke approach to basing, among other things—the service’s undersecretary said last week.“We cannot just project force and operate out of our main operating bases,” Matthew Lohmeier told a small group of reporters here as he wrapped up a trip around the Pacific. “There’s an alignment between all of our leaders and making sure we posture ourselves properly to project force here in the region,” he said. “In Washington, D.C., our attention, as far as resourcing goes, is pivoting to this theater, while we attend to all of the other operational efforts that we have around the globe.