Air Force secretary visits Guam

The Air Force’s top civilian boss said while visiting Andersen Air Force Base in Guam Tuesday that a busier Air Force presence is expected here in the coming year.

“You are truly the front-line defenders, and you are the front-line responders in a very large, complex, important and very volatile neighborhood within our world,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said to Guam-based airmen.

The United States is committed to the “rebalance,” she said, referring to the plan to shift more military troops and personnel to the Asia-Pacific.

“There’s lots of activity going on right now, and even more projected in the next year,” she said.

James met with the B-1 crew members who were recently deployed to Guam from Ellsworth Air Force Base, in South Dakota.

The B-1 bomber presence in Guam fills the spot vacated by B-52s and their crew, who were being moved to the Middle East.

While this is not the first basing of B-1s in the Pacific Command area of responsibility, it's the first time in 10 years, according to the Air Force.

The B-1 crew will also have the opportunity to train with Pacific allies to improve "interoperability," according to the Air Force.

James made her Guam stopover as part of an 11-day trip to discuss shared concerns with U.S. partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes were discussed at her meetings, according to the Air Force.

In a show of air power, all three of the Air Force's strategic power projection bombers, the B-52 Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit, were represented in a formation pass over Andersen Air Force Base on Aug. 17. The bombers dispersed and then simultaneously conducted operations over the disputed South China Sea, according to the Air Force.

“This mission demonstrated the U.S. commitment to supporting global security and our ability to launch a credible strategic defense force," Brig. Gen. Douglas Cox, commander of the Guam-based 36th Wing, said in an Air Force press release.