Air Force Core Missions

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Airmen bring to the Nation’s military portfolio five interdependent and integrated core missions that have endured since President Truman originally assigned airpower roles and missions to the Air Force in 1947. Although the way we do them will constantly evolve, the Air Force will continue to perform these missions so that our military can respond quickly and appropriately to unpredictable threats and challenges. Today, we call our core missions: (1) air and space superiority; (2) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); (3) rapid global mobility; (4) global strike; and (5) command and control.

Through these core missions, the Air Force provides Global Vigilance, Global Reach, and Global Power for America. Each of these core missions is, in its own right, vitally important to the defense of our national interests; however, no single core mission functions independently. Airpower is maximized when Airmen leverage its unique characteristics—speed, range, flexibility, precision, lethality, and persistence—to harness the integrated power of our air, space, and cyber forces. The Air Force is effective precisely because its interdependent operations are synchronized to provide an unparalleled array of airpower options, giving America the ability to respond quickly anywhere in the world.

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