Senior leaders of the Department of the Air Force introduced plans to reshape the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to enable the services to maintain superiority.
“Today, we are announcing 24 key decisions that are going to address the current force and our ability to stay competitive,” Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said in a statement published Monday.
“We need these changes now; we are out of time to reoptimize our forces to meet the strategic challenges in a time of Great Power Competition,” Kendall added.
The department proposed 24 changes and classified them into four key categories: develop people; generate readiness; project power; and develop capabilities.
For the first category, proposed measures include consolidating force development functions under an expanded Airman Development Command to provide Airmen a common, mission-focused development and training path and developing “Mission Ready Airmen” with training focused on a mix of skills needed for wartime operational mission readiness.
To generate readiness, the department calls for the implementation of large-scale exercises and mission-focused training and reorientation of Air Combat Command to focus on presenting ready forces to combatant commanders.
To project power, planned changes include formalizing Space Force Combat Squadrons as Units of Action and establishing the relationship between Combat Wings and Base Command.
To build capabilities, proposed actions include creating a Department of the Air Force Integrated Capabilities Office to lead capability development and resource prioritization to drive modernization investments and establishing an Integration Development Office within Air Force Materiel Command to provide technology assessments and roadmaps.