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The Nation's Guardians: America's 21st Century Air Force

  • Published
  • By Gen. Bruce Carlson
  • Gen, USAF Commander
Recently, Gen Moseley published a paper entitled The Nation's Guardians: America's 21st Century Air Force. This landmark paper lays out the AF strategy for the next two decades and articulates the strategic imperative of maintaining our role as the world's most dominant Air Force. If you haven't had a chance to read it, I encourage you to do so. As you do, think about how what you do for our Nation fits into this strategic vision. I won't take the time to review the entire paper, but I've given a lot of thought to this strategic vision and believe that you, the men and women of AFMC, hold the key to turning it into reality.

Here's how I see it.

The Nation's Guardians is rightly focused on the future. We've been in constant combat for over 17 years and as such, it is easy to focus solely on the current fight without much thought to the next. Don't misinterpret this, the AF and our Command are still committed to fully supporting the warfighter...but we also have to have an eye to the future. If we don't, when the next war comes, and it will, we will not be prepared.

The Air Force counts on us to do the thoughtful planning necessary to field the weapon systems that will fly, fight, and win...today's and tomorrow's war...in air, space, and cyberspace. I've made it a personal emphasis to reinvigorate our Development Planning capability to allow us to explore future capabilities for the warfighter. When we talk about D&SWS, sometimes we forget the "D" stands for Develop.

To achieve this vision, it will take creative and innovative thinking about how we do business in the AF. We will no longer be able to think in terms of air superiority, but rather in terms of cross-domain superiority...air, space, and cyber. Innovation is a hallmark of this Command, and I charge you to use the Chief's paper as a guide for your creative efforts. Achieving this vision won't be easy and it will take the effort of everyone in the AF and AFMC...together I'm confident we can build the AF of 2030 that will ensure our Nation's freedom for our children and grandchildren.

Please take some time to read the attached paper and give it some thought as you continue to serve our great Nation.

I remain your fellow wingman,

Bruce Carlson, Gen, USAF
Commander