Summit tracks warfare center consolidation

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Matt Proietti
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  Senior Air Force leaders gathered at the Pentagon Aug. 23 for a U.S. Air Force Warfare Center Summit. The purpose of the summit was to track progress and consider new initiatives in the ongoing effort to forge a single warfare center within the Air Force.

The vision is a simple but powerful one, according to officials: establish a single warfare center to develop and integrate all Air Force operational and tactical capabilities employed in a combat environment. These tasks were formerly done at several warfare centers around the country.

"I see great benefits in having a single, integrated warfare center for developing and integrating operational and tactical warfighting capabilities," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen T. Michael Moseley. "Our Air Force is organized, trained and equipped to provide combatant commanders relevant air, space and cyberspace warfighting capabilities.  A single warfare center is absolutely critical to this effort."

The center, which reports to Air Combat Command, was founded in 1966 as the Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center but renamed as the U. S. Air Force Warfare Center in 2005 to reflect the new and broadened focus of its mission. That mission is to shape the way the Air Force fights through advanced training, testing and tactics development in air, space and cyberspace at operational and tactical levels.  The center is located at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

"The unity of effort we continue to work toward will deliver a fully integrated, more capable Airman to the fight," said Maj. Gen. R. Mike Worden, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center commander. "This is what we expect of ourselves as professional Airmen and, just as importantly, what our country expects also."

The summit participants assessed the warfare center's progress toward consolidation, clarified responsibilities across major commands and agencies and addressed the pressing issues of what resources to allocate. 

"Based on a constrained fiscal environment, we must do everything we can to streamline and consolidate in the USAF," said General Moseley. "In the past, each MAJCOM had a warfare center. We now have one warfare center. It makes sense in terms of warfighting, and it makes sense in how we do this efficiently as well as effectively."

The participants also looked at ways the warfare center can better integrate with other services and other armed forces pursuing similar goals. 

"Synchronizing our efforts and those of our partners such as the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon, (Nev.), has the potential to create even greater synergy," said General Worden.

The U. S. Air Force Warfare Center's responsibilities include: 
-- instructing 62 courses in seven schools for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Army;
-- hosting joint integrated exercises, such as Red Flag, Blue Flag and Green Flag for operational and tactical units at all levels from all military services; 
-- solving combat problems for U.S. warfighters and allies; 
-- providing combat employment tactics for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and 
demonstrating the Air Force's skill and ability to the American public and the country's allies.

The center executes its mission by overseeing the operation of five wings: the 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla; the 505th Command and Control Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla; and the 57th Wing, 98th Range Wing and 99th Air Base Wing, all at Nellis. The center also oversees operations at the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab at Creech AFB, Nev., and the Air Warfare Battlelab at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.

Senior leaders have used summits to focus on a variety of challenges, to achieve clearly defined objectives early and accelerate progress. Most recently, they have engaged on the Strategic Communications Summit; the Acquisition Summit; the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Summit; Space Protection Summit; and the Air Force Smart Operations 21 Summit. The Warfare Center Summit was similarly successful in accelerating progress toward achieving the Air Force vision.

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