JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Lt. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach has been nominated by the president for a fourth star to become the next commander of Pacific Air Forces, headquartered here.
No stranger to the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility, Wilsbach currently serves as Commander, 7th Air Force and Deputy Commander, U.S. Forces Korea, prior to which he was Commander, Alaskan Region, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Commander, Alaskan Command, U.S. Northern Command and Commander, 11th Air Force.
The nomination requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
If confirmed, Wilsbach would oversee approximately 46,000 Airmen, serving principally in Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam. PACAF’s area of responsibility is home to 60 percent of the world’s population in 36 nations spread across 53 percent of the Earth’s surface and 16 time zones, with more than 1,000 spoken languages. The command oversees nine Air Force installations, three numbered Air Forces, and two Air Force bands.
Wilsbach would take the lead as the air component commander to Indo-Pacific Command in the Department of Defense’s priority theater. The area of responsibility is characterized by an increasingly complex global security environment and challenges to free and open international order and the re-emergence of long-term, strategic competition between nations.
Wilsbach is a graduate of the University of Florida Reserve Officer Training Corps program and earned his pilot wings during undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. Wilsbach has served in various leadership roles. He has commanded a fighter squadron, an operations group, and two wings, and has held various staff assignments including Director of Operations, Combined Air Operations Center, and Director of Operations, U.S. Central Command. Wilsbach is a command pilot with more than 5,000 hours in multiple aircraft, primarily in the F-15C, MC-12, F-22A, and F-16C. Additionally, he has flown 71 combat missions in operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom.
Pending confirmation, Wilsbach would succeed Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., who has been nominated to serve as the next U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff. Brown has led PACAF since July 2018.
A date for a change or assumption of command ceremony has not been chosen.