Defense Writers Group
18 August 2023
Moderator: General Hecker, we are honored by your time. Thank you so much for doing this, sir.
General Hecker: Thank you, Thom, for the opportunity to be here. I really appreciate it.
DWG: Great.
When you were sworn in as Commander of US Air Forces Europe and Africa the world was three months into the war in Ukraine, an invasion that really changed the shape of Europe and what we think about security on the continent. There’s new instability in Africa, another hat that you wear. So I’m curious, can you tell us how you’ve reshaped your forces since then? How has your thinking and planning altered to meet this new age of danger?
General Hecker: Thanks for the question. It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year and two months since I took command, and it’s hard to believe that the Ukraine has been going on for a year and a half now. But it has. But that has given us the opportunity to take a look and learn some lessons from what’s gone on in the last year and a half. And I think by far the largest lesson that we’ve learned is that neither side was able to get air superiority.
