Air Force announces command changes and wing plans to stay ahead of China

The Air Force is creating a new forward-looking capabilities planning command and refocusing its training enterprise, as part of a set of 24 initiatives designed to reorient the service to outpace China’s military ambitions. The Air Force’s top civilian and uniformed leaders unveiled the plans at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colo., following a monthslong, department-wide review. The new Integrated Capabilities Command will be a central planning hub for crafting requirements for the coming decades, reducing the responsibility from the service’s other commands. The Space Force will create a similar organization, Space Futures Command, to lay the groundwork for expanding the service’s missions. The Air Force will replace its Air Education and Training Command with a new Airman Development Command to streamline the educational pipeline. The Air Force will aim to mount a new service-wide training exercise in the Indo-Pacific in fiscal year 2025 and bring back warrant officers to bolster the Air Force’s technical expertise in cyber operations and information technology. The Department of the Air Force isn’t requesting specific funding for the changes in the fiscal year 2024 or 2025 budgets, but will ask Congress to move money around mid-year if necessary. A retired general officer told Air Force Times that defense organizations tend to multiply over time, so leaders must have a clear implementation plan and ensure airmen understand the long game. Another retired general officer questioned whether the Air Force and Space Force have enough time to put the plans into action. Courtney Mabeus-Brown and Rachel Cohen are the senior reporter and editor of Air Force Times, respectively.