Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program then-Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Georgia) and Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) created in 1991 continues through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, DoD News reported Monday.

Cherly Pellerin writes Carter made the statement during an award ceremony in Washington to mark the 25th anniversary of the CTR initiative and recognize individuals who helped establish the program.

He said the initiative has evolved and its focus has extended to biological and chemical weapons, terrorism and other global threats.

“These threats also require new thinking of the kind that CTR represents and new ways of operating, like I’m challenging our department to show today,” Carter said.

The CTR program was created as an amendment to the legislation on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, Pellerin reports.

The amendment allocated $400 million in fiscal year 1992 funds in order for the Defense Department to help the Soviet Union destroy nuclear and other chemical weapons.

Carter also handed the first Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award to several individuals who helped created the CTR program during the event.

Click here to view the award recipients.

The U.S. Air Force‘s Hill Air Force Base have launched routine four-ship combat training missions using the F-35 Lightning II to practice evasion maneuvers against simulated threats.

The Air Force said Monday pilots from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings teamed up and used the F-35’s computer network to identify and jam “enemy” radar and eliminate targets from an altitude of 40,000 feet.

Lt. Col. George Watkins, 34th Fighter squadron commander, said the four-ship configuration is standard for real-world combat and pilots will train to respond to surface-to-air threats in contested environments.

Hill AFB looks to house three operational F-35 squadrons with 78 aircraft by 2019 to be operated and maintained by the 388th and 419th FWs, the Air Force said.

According to the service branch, the FWs are targeting to reach initial operating capability to prepare the F-35s for combat missions.

Gen. John Hyten, head of the Air Force Space Command, has outlined the command’s primary priorities as indicated in its updated strategic intent document that serves as the command’s overall guide.

The document calls for AFSPC to outperform the enemies, boost military readiness for future hostile scenarios and look after the welfare of the airmen and their families, the Air Force said Monday.

“More than ever, AFSPC is called upon to deliver agile, integrated, and resilient effects in, from, and through space and cyberspace that are critical to fulfilling these strategic demands,” noted Hyten.

He stressed that all military operations depend on “integrated space and cyberspace effects to accomplish national objectives” and “achieve agile information superiority.”

The updated strategic intent also calls for the U.S. Air Force to adopt integrated multi-domain operations in order to coordinate space and cyberspace assets with assets from all domains to achieve combat mission goals.

Hyten also urged commanders to protect the airmen and their families and recognized the stress brought about by war, deployments and budget uncertainty to Air Force families.

Raymond Thomas, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, has said transregional cooperation between special operations forces worldwide is key in efforts to defeat militant groups such as the Islamic State organization, Defense News reported Monday.

Thomas told an audience at the Middle Eastern Special Operations Commanders Conference that USSOCOM looks to build on partnerships with Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Indonesia to support efforts against the IS group, Jen Judson wrote.

“The axiom that it takes a network to defeat a network logically drives the corollary that it takes a transregional network to defeat a similar foe,” said Thomas.

He added the formation of special operations force networks requires coordination between military, law enforcement groups and the international community, Judson quoted.