Category: Defence Intelligence

Source: United States Air Force

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —  

Headquarters Air Force hosted an Agile Combat Employment Interoperability and Integration conference with seven allies and partners at the Pentagon, Feb. 27-28.

ACE is an Air Force doctrine outlining operational schemes of maneuver to increase asset survivability while generating airpower in a high-threat environment. Combat employment experts from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the U.S. gathered to strategize ways to improve integration of airpower.

The event began with opening remarks from Lt. Gen. Adrian Spain, U.S. Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for operations.

“I’m really proud of the evolution that ACE has taken, in how we’ve evolved the concept itself and in evolving our way of thinking,” Spain said. “We’re acknowledging that this only works with allies and partners. We can certainly do ACE in the continental U.S., but that’s just not where it’s going to be.”

Various country leads offered their perspectives on how to best utilize ACE in speaking sessions and brainstorming sessions. The ACE concept shifts airpower generation from large, centralized bases to a network of smaller, dispersed bases. It shapes the way Airmen are trained and how resources are allocated, providing flexible forces that commanders can utilize for a wide variety of missions.

“Proactive maneuvers involve moving forces and assets between main operating bases and potential dispersed sites to assure allies and partners and to alter adversary understanding of our intentions and capabilities,” said Dr. Sandeep Mulgund, senior advisor to the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations. “It allows us to posture ourselves to deter aggression or to gain advantage.”

By utilizing smaller teams of mission ready Airmen dispersed over many locations, the U.S. Air Force and its partners can multiply force advantages. These mission ready Airmen are trained in expeditionary skills and capable of accomplishing tasks outside of their core Air Force specialty.

“The first step of practicing ACE is by getting together like this to figure out what aspects come into play whenever our forces operate together,” Mulgund added. “We can better identify locations from which we can operate in an integrated, synchronized manner and what policies that we need to have in place to allow collaborative operations at these locations.”

The ACE concept is maximized by sharing resources for forces, basing, logistics, and more.

“When we work together with our allies and partners, our relationships and cooperation give us an advantage no adversary can match.”Dr. Sandeep Mulgund, Senior Advisor to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations

“Events like this conference provide a forum to create common understanding of the military challenge, our collective approach to it, and how we’re going to bring our national military instruments of power to the effort in a way that complicates our adversaries’ calculus,” Mulgund said.

Source: United States Air Force

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) —  

U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force senior leaders participated in a senior leader panel during the National Character and Leadership Symposium held at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Arnold Hall, Feb. 23.

The cadet-moderated panel welcomed Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, Vice Chief of Space Operations Michael A. Guetlein, the Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Joanne S. Bass and the Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John Bentivegna to the stage to answer a series of questions sent in by NCLS attendees.

Academy Cadet 1st Class Ruben Banks posed the questions to each panel member in turn, with queries spanning the spectrum of their responsibility.

U.S. prepares for the Great Power Competition
Following Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall’s debut of upcoming changes to better posture the Air Force and Space Force in an era of Great Power Competition during a conference held in Denver on Feb. 12, 2024, it is no surprise it remained a prominent theme of the discussion.

“There has been more change in the past 24 months than I have seen in my whole career,” said Guetlein, whose 34-year-long career has spanned two services and several conflicts. “We are in the midst of pivoting the entire Department of the Air Force 180 degrees.”

According to Bass, Airmen and Guardians can expect even more change in the next four to six years as the Defense Department shifts from the military she joined in the early 1990’s, which focused on the warfighting domains of air, land and sea, to now maintain dominance in the additional warfighting domains of space, cyberspace and information.

“We’re really just accelerating to meet the environment where it is,” Allvin said.

Recruiting and keeping talented Airmen and Guardians are key to help reshape, refocus and reoptimize the Air Force and Space Force.

Mission command and leveraging diversity
In preparation for the Great Power Conflict, the Department of the Air Force announced in August 2023 its shift toward mission command, the practice of conducting military operations through decentralized execution.

The shift to mission command is now being incorporated into the Academy’s curriculum and trained at all levels of the Department of the Air Force.

“I grew up in the waning days of the Cold War, and I remember; I was in Germany when the [Berlin] wall came down,” said Allvin, a 1986 Academy graduate. “That is not the future conflict. Your communications will likely be disrupted; you’ll move around in a small team.

“You have to understand the overall concept of the mission because there may be times you have to deviate from what you were told because the situation has changed.”

The key to this, all agreed, is to develop team dynamics, problem-solving and mental agility.

“I don’t need the Academy and ROTC detachments to build me robots,” said Guetlein. “I need you guys to be thinking adversaries. I need you to be agile, I need you to be risk takers, I need you to know how to operate as a team. I need you to operate with unity of effort because you may not have unity of command.

“Each person must bring value to the fight,” Guetlein continued. “I need you to figure out how to leverage the diversity of your team: diversity of thought, diversity of education, diversity of background, diversity of opinion.”

Bass, who credits her uniquely diverse background to growing up a military child in Department of Defense Schools, encouraged audience members to consider the high-performing teams they had been on.

The key to this, all agreed, is to develop team dynamics, problem-solving and mental agility.

“I don’t need the Academy and ROTC detachments to build me robots,” Guetlein said. “I need you guys to be thinking adversaries. I need you to be agile, I need you to be risk takers, I need you to know how to operate as a team. I need you to operate with unity of effort because you may not have unity of command.

“Each person must bring value to the fight,” Guetlein continued. “I need you to figure out how to leverage the diversity of your team: diversity of thought, diversity of education, diversity of background, diversity of opinion.”

Bass, who credits her uniquely diverse background to growing up a military child in Department of Defense Schools, encouraged audience members to consider the high-performing teams they had been on.

A highlight of the discussion for Nunez was the response from Allvin and Bass following a question from a fellow attendee about the challenges of mental health care in the military. Both leaders highlighted the spectrum of resilience and posit that it is the answer to alleviating mental health struggles in both the military and the nation.

“When I talk to our mental health providers, they tell me that out of every 10 Airmen that come to mental health, only two need clinical mental health support; the other eight just need to know someone cares,” Bass said. “There is a shortage of mental health providers, but there is not a shortage of leaders and wingmen. We have to embrace community and talk to one another.”

“It’s not just a military crisis; it’s a national mental health crisis,” Allvin continued. “But the military has a history of leading the way on social change and I think we can on this as well. Between the two people who need clinical care and the eight people who need someone to care, we need to bridge that gap.”

NCLS is the Academy’s flagship event and is open to the public. Each year, the forum welcomes speakers and participants from all walks of life. The three-day conference features presenters that include international scholars, military leaders, corporate executives and world-class athletes. The senior leader panel offered perspectives on leadership to all those in attendance, local and visiting students; business and community leaders; and current and former cadets alike.

Source: United States Air Force

Luleå, SWEDEN (AFNS) —  

U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota launched from their deployed location at Luleå-Kallax Air Base, Sweden, to train alongside Swedish air force aircraft Feb. 26.