{"id":166252,"date":"2024-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=166252"},"modified":"2024-05-03T13:09:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:09:25","slug":"allvin-aligning-air-forces-approach-is-key-to-reoptimizing-for-great-power-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=166252","title":{"rendered":"Allvin: Aligning Air Force\u2019s approach is key to reoptimizing for Great Power Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin<\/strong><\/a> looks closely at the service he leads, he sees plenty to like.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Air Force remains the best, most capable and lethal in the world,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cBut that status is not guaranteed into the future and will only be realized if we adapt and shape the Total Force more precisely to meet the challenges we face today.\u201d<\/p>\n

One challenge that particularly draws Allvin\u2019s attention is the \u201cfragmentation\u201d of effort and organization across the Air Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last three decades, our Air Force has incrementally become more fragmented across the four focus areas of our reoptimization effort \u2013 developing capabilities, developing people, generating readiness and projecting power. This gradual diffusion was the result of decisions made in the context of a different strategic environment. After some deep introspection, we know we cannot let this continue. Reoptimization will align our force to best compete, deter and if required, win in today\u2019s volatile strategic landscape.\u201d Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Air Force\u2019s recently announced reoptimization<\/strong><\/a> initiative is designed to attack fragmentation and better align the force. As the pace of change accelerates and the threat posed by the pacing challenge grows, a fragmented force slows the Air Force enterprise down, hampers modernization and limits integration, Allvin says. He also acknowledges change can be difficult but knows it is nothing new to the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe twenty-two chiefs of staff who proceeded me all shaped our Air Force to meet the rising challenges of their time,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cThey and their contemporaries never blinked in the face of an adversary, and neither will we. They led change to ensure our Air Force was always the strongest in the world \u2013 now it is our turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

In making the \u201cCase for Change<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d Allvin highlighted the need to solidify the service\u2019s currently splintered approach and unify the fragmented nature of planning and operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo forge ahead, we must prioritize organizational alignment, streamline decision-making and place mission outcomes above narrow functional competence,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The Air Force\u2019s ambitious plan to \u201creoptimize\u201d the service<\/strong><\/a> in the face of Great Power Competition was released in February. It recognizes the need for a more holistic approach.<\/p>\n

For example, the plan establishes\u00a0Integrated Capabilities Command. ICC fuses disparate modernization efforts from across the Air Force into a centralized structure and process to produce capabilities aligned with a single force design.
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\u201cWe do not have the time or money to keep designing and building the pieces of our Air Force separately, hoping we can solve the integration challenges after the fact,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cICC will ensure deliberate integration of mission systems and that the platforms we engineer and operate align with those systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICC will be formed largely by aggregating the expertise resident in the current major commands and Air Force headquarters that are charged with modernizing elements of the force within their individual portfolios.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe currently develop capabilities largely within our major commands, and as a result don\u2019t build our Air Force in an integrated manner from the start,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cYears ago, the direction to reduce the size of management headquarters staffing increasingly drove decision-making down to MAJCOMs who are not designed to have an enterprise perspective. That will not cut it in today\u2019s strategic environment. We must eliminate the stovepipes and integrate across the enterprise to be one Air Force.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to establishing ICC, reoptimization will solidify how the service trains and develops Airmen.<\/p>\n

One specific goal is refocusing training to produce what the Air Force is calling, \u201cMission Ready Airmen.\u201d This approach, the Air Force \u201cCase for Change\u201d document states, will emphasize \u201cthe need to transcend syllabus-driven, technical training for specialized roles with an appreciation of their overarching role in a challenging environment and as empowered members of small teams tasked with anticipating and solving complex, undefined problems under contested conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAirmen are multi-capable by design,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cTo make them \u2018Mission Ready Airmen,\u2019 we owe them development policies and programs with an enterprise view, plus a common competency baseline, so our force develops evenly across career fields. Currently, we see uneven development and skewed mission alignment across functional communities \u2013 that is not what the Joint Force nor the mission demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scope of reoptimization extends to readiness as well. Under the new approach, the priority will be on mission readiness rather than a narrower functional competence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must be ready to face tough, complex combat scenarios,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cTo be as prepared as possible, we are taking a hard look at ourselves so we know what we truly can and cannot do as an entire service, not just in one or two functional areas. The mission-focused assessments and inspections we are instituting will help us do this, as will the large-scale exercises we are implementing as part of reoptimization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Operationally, the Air Force says reoptimizing will \u201ccreate coherent, standardized and well-defined \u201cUnits of Action\u201d to present a clear and cohesive structure for effective combat operations and force presentation \u2026 These wings will prioritize readying whole units that can be combat effective on Day One of a conflict. They will train together and, as applicable, deploy and fight together \u2014 enhancing their ability to provide direct support to combatant commanders.\u201d
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\u201cFor 20 years, we piecemealed forces into the counter-violent extremist organization fight because that is what the Joint Force required. Crowdsourcing to deploy and fight is a losing proposition against the pacing challenge,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cIt is also unfair to Airmen. They need to know and train with the team they are going to fight alongside. Reoptimization addresses that by assembling units of action and aligning training to focus on mission, not function.\u201d<\/p>\n

In presenting the plan for reoptimizing and its 24 major actions<\/strong><\/a>, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall<\/strong><\/a> acknowledged the same problem<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cOver more than two decades, we have optimized to support post-9\/Il conflicts and demands; this is not what the nation needs for the coming decades of strategic competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reoptimization is also designed to prevent the all-too-common problem of \u201cpieces\u201d available to commanders not being able to work together because each was developed and deployed largely in a vacuum. This problem is not unique to the Air Force. Commanders across the Joint Force cope with this dynamic.<\/p>\n

While China is the main driver to depart from fragmented decision-making, development and operations, senior Air Force leaders say bringing in a more aligned, comprehensive perspective will have clear benefits across the entire service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is just going to help warfighting capability be developed more holistically in the future,\u201d Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich<\/strong><\/a> told Air and Space Forces Magazine on April 3. \u201cThat\u2019ll be a benefit, no matter where the conflict is. So, even though it\u2019s optimized for China \u2026 we\u2019re pretty bad at predicting where we\u2019re going to have a conflict. If we end up fighting somewhere else in the world, whether it\u2019s the Middle East or elsewhere, I think it\u2019ll have a benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--video--><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-split ntext breakout \">\n<div class=\"item\">\n<div class=\"body\">\n<section class=\"ast-brandedhr\">\n<div class=\"ast-brandedhr-line\">\n<p> <title>U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) — \u00a0 When Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin looks closely at the service he leads, he sees plenty to like. \u201cThe U.S. Air Force remains the best, most capable and lethal in the world,\u201d Allvin said. \u201cBut that status is not guaranteed into the future and will only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":166254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=166252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166255,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166252\/revisions\/166255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/166254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=166252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=166252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=166252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}