Consulting firm McAleese & Associates has issued a report outlining key takeaways from a discussion with Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a three-time Wash100 Award winner, during the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute podcast.
Kendall said there are seven operational imperatives for the service branch amid the evolving security environment associated with the rise of China and one of those is the need to drive the space order of battle by transferring as many missions as possible to the U.S. Space Force, Jim McAleese, founder of McAleese & Associates and a three-time Wash100 winner, reported.
Another imperative is that the Air Force should make the Advanced Battle Management System and Joint All Domain Command and Control specific high-value missions rather than experimentation campaigns.
Kendall noted that the service should also advance Agile combat employment by hardening and defending air bases and enabling airmen to carry out multiple missions at austere air bases.
Other imperatives Kendall discussed are the Next-Generation Air Dominance; large-scale ground and airborne targeting; transition to the kinetic fight without long-tail or large-scale logistics “iron mountain” buildup; and attritable strike unmanned aircraft systems for both NGAD and B-21.
During the discussion, he also touched on the air-launched rapid response weapon, the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, artificial intelligence, the nuclear triad and a potential “night court” review by fiscal year 2024 to prioritize programs with highest lethality, speed of fielding and affordability.
