US Air Force Unveils Sweeping Changes in 'Era of Great Power Competition'

The U.S. Air Force on Monday unveiled sweeping changes aimed at maintaining superiority in "an era of Great Power Competition."

The 24 decisions—a mix of near-term and longer-term initiatives—are aimed at "reshaping, refocusing, and reoptimizing" the Air Force and Space Force, according to a news release.

They are grouped into four main categories: develop people, generate readiness, project power, and develop capabilities.

The decisions will address "the current force and our ability to stay competitive," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a statement. "We need these changes now; we are out of time to reoptimize our forces to meet the strategic challenges in a time of Great Power Competition."

The changes come as China continues its threats to Taiwan, as Russia's war on Ukraine nears the two-year mark and amid Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza.

Kendall cited China in a memo last year explaining the need for comprehensive change in the Air Force and Space Force.

The United States must be ready for a fight "unlike anything all of us serving today have ever seen, and that requires both unity of effort and change," Kendall wrote.

China is "intent on fielding a force that can conduct aggression in the Western Pacific and prevail even if the United States intervenes," he added.

"While China has focused on creating the regional conventional forces it believes it needs, China is also dramatically expanding its nuclear force and military space capabilities. We cannot sustain deterrence by standing still."

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Air Force for further comment via its website.

Under the "Develop People" category, the changes include consolidating functions to "provide Airmen a common, mission-focused development and training path" and redesigning career paths to produce Guardians that meet "high-tech operational demands."

Goals also include developing "Mission Ready Airmen" with training focused on skills needed for wartime operational mission readiness.

In order to generate readiness, large-scale exercises and mission-focused training to release for complex military operations will be implemented. A "series of nested exercises" in the Space Force will also be conducted.

Air Force Operational Wings will be structured as mission-ready "Units of Action" as part of changes in the "project power" category. The changes also involve formalizing Space Force Combat Squadrons as Units of Action, the complete activation of the remainder of Space Force Service Components, and accelerating the implementation of the Space Force Generation model.

Furthermore, a department of the Air Force Integrated Capabilities Office will be created to "lead capability development and resource prioritization to drive Department of the Air Force modernization investments."

A Program Assessment and Evaluation Office will also be created to "foster structure and incorporate a more strategic and analytically based approach to resourcing decisions."

The Air Force also aims to expand the Nuclear Weapons Center to become the Air Force Nuclear Systems Center within Air Force Material Command. "This will provide comprehensive materiel support to the nuclear enterprise; establish a 2-star general officer as the Program Executive Officer for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles," according to the news release.

A new field command called Space Futures Command will also be created in order to develop and validate concepts, conduct experimentation and war games, and perform mission area design.