- Air Force Secretary Troy Meink has outlined modernization priorities amid AI-enabled threats
- The Air Force targets 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft and 500 Mass Modular Aircraft by 2032
- The department has established 26 portfolio acquisition executives to speed up program delivery
Troy Meink, secretary of the Department of the Air Force and a 2026 Wash100 awardee, said the department must increase combat power and innovate faster than adversaries while pursuing cost-effective capabilities amid rapidly evolving artificial intelligence-enabled threats.
How Is DAF Shifting Its Force Design?
During his keynote address at a conference on Monday, Meink said the department is continuing a force design shift toward a mix of crewed and uncrewed systems designed to expand combat capacity. Key elements of that shift include:
- Pairing manned aircraft with low-cost autonomous systems to unlock combat power at scale
- Applying Open Systems Architecture to speed up procurement and increase industry competition, resulting in improved pricing and options
- Targeting a radically different Air Force by 2032 as a result of current investment decisions
- Equipping special operations forces with the ability to employ thousands of autonomous one-way attack weapons by 2032
- Fielding at least 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs, by 2032 to take on many missions currently flown by manned fighters
- Naming two new autonomous aircraft — the FQ-42 Vengeance and FQ-44 Fury
- Developing the Mass Modular Aircraft, an uncrewed, multipurpose platform intended to reach 100 units by 2029 and 500 units by 2032, at a fraction of the cost of a CCA or fifth-generation fighter
- Advancing proliferated space constellations, including the Space-Based Interceptor program, which moved from contract award to flight-ready hardware in under a year, along with continued progress on the Space Data Network and the start of launches for the Air Moving Target Indication constellation
What Acquisition Reforms Is the Department Pursuing?
Meink said DAF has restructured its acquisition process to help sustain the pace of modernization. The Air Force has stood up all 26 portfolio acquisition executives, each responsible for accelerating delivery within a specific mission area. The department has also delegated nearly all legally permissible authorities to PAEs, including milestone decision authority for most programs — a change Meink described as a first for the acquisition community.
The secretary previously told lawmakers during a June hearing on the department’s fiscal 2027 budget request that the Air Force is empowering its PAEs with the authorities, resources and talent needed to accelerate capability delivery.
