The 2024 AFA Warfare Symposium showcased a clear theme of impending change amidst a backdrop of industry buzzwords and acronyms. The symposium unveiled 24 new priorities for the Air and Space Forces’ leadership, aimed at creating a more agile force that relies on established teamwork at home bases.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin emphasized the need to re-optimize the branch to dominate evolving challenges of the future.
“That’s what this is about,” Allvin said. “Taking this Air Force that has the best talent, the best teamwork, and re-optimizing it to dominate this game in the way it’s gonna be played now and into the future. That’s what this is about.”
One of the most obvious changes discussed is the restructuring of combat wings. Traditional air expeditionary wings will be replaced by deployable combat wings, in-place combat wings, and combat generation wings. The shift aims to create more self-sufficient units that ready to engage the enemy without having to piece together deployments from various locations.
“We can no longer afford to move slowly,” Allvin said. “And if you wanna move fast and coherently you have to be in unison, you have to be integrated.”
Allvin did not provide a specific timeline for the implementation of these changes, but a previously scheduled testing at three bases in the summer of 2024 has been suspended.
The changes announced at the symposium can be categorized into four areas: developing people, generating readiness, projecting power, and developing capabilities.
“I am unapologetic to stand here in front of you and say I do not know the final destination,” Allvin said. “And here’s why, because if we wait to move to have those final answers, we will be too late.”
The Space Force, which is four years old, is also undergoing significant changes.
One headline change is the creation of a new field command, the Space Futures Command.
“So we are going to establish a Space Futures Command that is combined of three centers that starts to ask these fundamental questions,” Chief of Space Operation Gen. Chance Saltzman said. “That puts together a force that we can offer to combatant commanders that doesn’t just have the systems. It has the tactics, the training, the operational concepts.”
Both Air and Space Forces leaders emphasized that change is rarely easy but framed these shifts in priorities as opportunities for growth and improvement.
We got a lot of hard work to do. This is the most difficult, intense, focused threat that I’ve ever seen us face. And we’re just gonna have to respond accordingly.
Frank Kendall, Air Force Secretary
The symposium’s discussions of re-optimization were underscored with motivating factors, such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, tensions in the Red Sea’s shipping lanes, and China’s intentions regarding Taiwan.
For a detailed overview of all the changes planned for both the Air and Space Forces, interested parties can refer to the official releases and presentations from the symposium below.
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