NASIC under new command as operations tempo remains high

Standing between a Wright Flyer and a F-22 Raptor, Col. Tyson Wetzel assumed command of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on Friday, July 10.

In the past year and beyond, NASIC has been quite busy, assisting with Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury. For months, the "optempo" or operational tempo at NASIC and other Air Force intelligence units has been high, Wetzel acknowledged after a change-of-command ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

"It has been both stressful and rewarding," he said, speaking in front of a Soviet Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet after the ceremony.

Wetzel takes command at a time when "affordable mass" - relatively inexpensive drones and munitions - have been changing how wars are fought in Ukraine, and to a lesser extent, across the Strait of Hormuz.

NASIC has been staying on top on top of those changes, Wetzel said.

"The Air Force is going through its greatest modernization in its history," he said. "And that modernization has a both, what we would call, a 'high' and 'low' mix. There are incredibly advanced aircraft like the B-21 and the F-47 sixth-generation fighter."

But there are also smaller, less expensive craft being brought to bear, such as the Anduril Collaborative Combat Aircraft being made in Ohio and smaller drones.

"NASIC provides intelligence support to every one of those programs," the new commander said.

Wetzel most recently served as the commander of the 691st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Group within the 70th ISR Wing at Fort Meade in Maryland. Before that, he led the ISR, 7th Air Force for the Combined Air Component Command, Osan Air Base in South Korea.

Relinquishing command of NASIC was Col. Kenneth Stremmel, who has been selected for promotion to brigadier general. He will go on to serve as the director of ISR operations at Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon.

Lt. Gen. Max Pearson, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, presided over Friday's ceremony. Pearson praised Stremmel as helping to modernize NASIC's digital and AI capabilities and leading the center at a time when it produced some 100,000 intelligence reports in two years.

"You demanded excellence, and you took care of your people - and you delivered for the joint force," Pearson told him.

NASIC is the Air Force's service intelligence center with the mission to discover and characterize air, space, missile, and cyber threats while supporting American missions.

Stremmel heads to Northern Virginia to serve on Pearson's staff.

He noted that the "NASIC brand is stronger than it has ever been'" - an observation Wetzel endorsed - and praised the Dayton and Wright-Patterson communities.

"Ohio has been really good to us," Stremmel said.

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This story was originally published July 11, 2026 at 2:42 PM.