Air Vice-Marshal (Ret) Michael Blackburn joined the RAF as a Nimrod navigator in 1995. He has served in a wide variety of roles, including within PJHQ and HQ Air Command in the UK, and has commanded overseas twice as Commanding Officer 902 Expeditionary Air Wing in Oman and as Station Commander RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, at the height of Op SHADER. He was the Chief of the Air Staff’s Liaison Officer to the French Air Force and served as the UK's Defence Attaché to China. Latterly, he served as the Deputy Director of the Integrated Global Defence Network and was promoted to his current role in August 2025.
Major General SERA Tatsuhiro is the director of the Air and Space Studies Institute of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. General Sera is a graduate of Japan's National Defense Academy and has served in various positions within his long career. Within the last decade he has served in both the Joint Staff Office as well as two different positions in the Air Staff Office, and he has commanded the Base Support Group of the 1st Air Wing as well as the Southwestern Air Control and Warning Wing.
Major Derek J. Ecklebe currently serves as a Fellow at the China Aerospace Studies Institute, providing expert research and analysis supporting decision and policy makers in the Department of Defense and across the U.S. government. He is responsible for reading, translating, analyzing, and publishing Chinese publicly available information, ensuring government wide dissemination. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the B-2 Chief of Survivability & Special Programs and Assistant
Director of Operations of the 509th Operations Support Squadron, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. He was responsible for the combat mission planning of the nation’s only stealth bomber, including the management of advanced programs, signature protection, and current and future capabilities. He served as the chief B-2 tactical advisor to the 509th Bomb Wing Commander, as well as NAF, MAJCOM, and COCOM leadership. Major Ecklebe is a senior pilot with more than 2,000 flying hours in the T-38C, C-130J, HC-103J, MC-130J, MC- 130H, T-38A, and B-2A.
Maj John “Gary” Garrison is an F-16 instructor pilot and Mandarin speaker. He recently served as the Director of Operations for the 21st Fighter Squadron, the U.S. Air Force’s dedicated F-16 training squadron for Taiwan. Prior to that, he was an Air Advisor in Taiwan and has held operational assignments and deployments across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Ms. QI Xiaoke is an analyst and researcher with the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) at the U.S. Air University. She also serves as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. Her research focuses on the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), specializing in military human capital, recruitment strategies, and modernization tactics.