The design builds on One Force Design 2024 and spells out the capabilities the service says it needs for future conflicts. “Our Force Design is about the capabilities we will field that are necessary to fight and win in the future,” said Gen. Ken Wilsbach, the Air Force chief of staff.
The plan looks beyond individual aircraft to the command-and-control and information systems that help aircraft, sensors and weapons work together. The Air Force wants to use autonomous systems alongside human judgment to give it more ways to sustain combat power under pressure.
The service says advances in sensing, networking, super intelligence and unmanned systems are changing the speed, scale and complexity of warfare. It also points to long-range weapons and electronic warfare as factors changing how it generates and employs airpower.
“We must evolve if we want to remain the world’s best Air Force,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Niemi, deputy chief of staff for force modernization and chief modernization officer. “New technologies are enabling fantastic capabilities that were unimaginable just a few years ago, but those same technologies threaten some of the ways we have historically generated airpower.”
“The Force Design presents a fundamental shift in how the Air Force approaches future challenges in the Joint environment,” Wilsbach said. “It will help Airmen understand how we plan to deliver combat power in the years to come.”
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