The U.S. Air Force has discarded its plan to establish a major new command dedicated to setting requirements and modernizing its weapon systems, choosing instead to consolidate these functions within an existing department, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday. The service will simultaneously create a new senior executive role, the chief modernization officer, to direct strategic efforts.

How Will Modernization Leadership Be Consolidated?

The functions originally designated for the abandoned Integrated Capabilities Command will be absorbed by the Air Force Futures organization. This transfer of responsibilities is scheduled for completion by April 2026.

The newly created CMO position will serve as the principal leader of these newly integrated activities. The role’s mandate is to guide critical modernization processes across the service, focusing on four primary areas:

• Strategy and force design
• Mission integration and mission threads
• Capability development and requirements
• Prioritization of modernization investments

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink stated that this organizational realignment is intended to produce faster results.

“This restructuring will accelerate the delivery of combat power, improve efficiency, and shorten the decision timeline,” he explained in the service’s official announcement.

Leading the organizational transition of A5/7 will be Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, who previously commanded the Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base.

Why Is the Air Force Reversing a Key Overhaul Initiative?

The decision marks a significant pullback on a core component of the Biden administration’s “reoptimization” plan, a sweeping effort intended to overhaul how the service defines its requirements for acquiring new warfighting capabilities.

The ICC was activated on a provisional basis in 2024 with a defined mission: to test various operational concepts, align the development of new capabilities and generate unified demand signals for necessary system improvements. Following a service-wide pause on the reoptimization efforts earlier this year, a review concluded that moving forward with a permanent ICC was no longer the optimal path. The service’s assessment of other elements of the broader overhaul, which includes initiatives for the Space Force, remains ongoing.

Strategic and Leadership Context

The drive to reoptimize the service has been linked to recent changes in senior leadership. Reports indicate that disagreements over the overhaul contributed to the departure of former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, former head of Air Combat Command, has since been nominated as the successor.

Commenting on the service’s strategic outlook, Secretary Meink has publicly shifted the focus away from the common nomenclature of “great power competition.” Speaking at a conference in September, he underscored the need for measurable outcomes, stating that the primary objective for the Air Force must be achieving success. He concluded simply, “we need to be able to win, period,” emphasizing readiness and modernization above geopolitical frameworks.

President Donald Trump has directed the secretary of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget director to use available funds to ensure military pay disbursements.

Why Did the President Order FY26 Funds for Military Pay?

According to the National Security Presidential Memorandum-8 released Wednesday by the White House, the president, as commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, mandated the use of funds appropriated for fiscal year 2026 to cover pay and allowances for active-duty and reserve military personnel during the ongoing lapse in annual appropriations.

The Defense Secretary will identify funding sources that bear a “reasonable logical relationship” to military compensation, in full compliance with applicable legal standards, including 31 U.S.C. 1301(a).

What Is the Impact of Trump’s Directive on Military Readiness?

The directive comes as the funding impasse enters its fifteenth day, delaying passage of legislation to restore full government funding and putting October 15th paychecks—including those for military personnel—at risk. The executive action seeks to avert a potential crisis that poses a serious threat to military readiness and national defense capabilities.

The Department of the Army has launched the Janus Program—a nuclear energy initiative unveiled at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting—to deliver secure, reliable power for defense installations and mission-critical operations, including training, deployment and combat.

How Will Army’s Janus Program Advance Nuclear Energy?

The Army said Tuesday the Janus Program, building on lessons learned from Project Pele, its first transportable nuclear reactor initiative, will collaborate with the Defense Innovation Unit to develop commercial microreactors. The effort will use a flexible, milestone-driven contracting approach designed to fast-track the deployment of advanced energy capabilities to military users.

Modeled after NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, this framework ensures reactors remain commercially owned and operated, with milestone payments structured to support industry partners in achieving “Nth-of-a-kind” production.

The Army will also offer technical guidance and support covering the entire uranium fuel cycle and the wider nuclear supply chain to reinforce both national defense and domestic industrial capacity. The program will utilize the Army’s nuclear regulatory authority, working closely with the Department of Energy to uphold rigorous safety, oversight and transparency standards.

The Janus program supports Executive Order 14299, which directs the Department of Defense to initiate the operation of an Army-regulated nuclear reactor by Sept. 30, 2028.

Rep. Ken Calvert, D-Calif., has filed the DOD Entrepreneurial Innovation Act, a bill renewing his 2021 effort under H.R. 2005 to strengthen how the Department of Defense identifies and invests in promising small business technologies. 

According to a press release from Calvert’s office Wednesday, the bill would require DOD to pinpoint top Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs for inclusion in future budgets—improving transparency and ensuring innovative projects advance beyond early research phases. 

Five SBIR/STTR Candidates Per Service Branch

Each service branch would select its five most promising SBIR/STTR programs based on their potential to cut costs, enhance capabilities or deliver new technologies.

“To support America’s national security mission, we need to leverage technological superiority into an advantage on the battlefield,” Calvert said. He is continuing his SIBR/STTR advocacy in the House bill, as “small businesses and entrepreneurs are the drivers of innovation in the defense sector and beyond.”

Calvert pointed out that his proposed legislation responds to long-standing DOD challenges, wherein many SBIR projects stall after early development and fail to scale for deployment. By prioritizing commercialization and private-sector innovation, the measure seeks to help DOD accelerate adoption of advanced technologies and maintain an edge over competitors, such as China.

In a broader SBIR/STTR effort in the Senate, Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Del., members of the Small Business Committee, proposed in May the Research Advancing to Market Production, RAMP, for Innovators Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at empowering innovative small businesses to commercialize their technologies.