Gen. Lori Robinson took command of Pacific Air Forces from Gen. Hawk Carlisle on Thursday during a change of command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Carlisle will move to Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., where he will replace Gen. Mike Hostage, who is retiring.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh praised Carlisle’s accomplishments at PACAF and expressed confidence in Robinson.
“Gen. Lori Robinson is a phenomenal leader and a proven operator,” Welsh said at the ceremony. “She fully understands what it takes to be successful in this business and has all the tools to take this command to even higher levels of performance.”
Robinson is the Air Force’s second female four-star — Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command was first — and is the first woman to lead a U.S. Air Force component major command. She moves to PACAF from her previous position as vice commander of ACC.
“Thank you for your trust and confidence in selecting me to lead this critical command at a time when regional and global events pose increasingly serious challenges to the international community and to our own national security,” Robinson said upon assuming command.
Robinson was commissioned in May 1981 after graduating from University of New Hampshire. She is a senior battle manager with more than 900 flight hours in the E-3B/C and E-8C.
Her joint assignments include deputy commander of Air Forces Central Command and deputy commander of Combined Forces Air Component at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, from June 2012 to April 2013 as a major general. As a brigadier general, she was deputy director for Force Application and Support for the joint staff’s Force Structure, Resources and Assessment directorate at the Pentagon.
