Air Force leaders hold Heritage to Horizons summit

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WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  Air Force leaders past and present met with the Air Force chief of staff for the Heritage to Horizons summit Aug. 7 at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.

Gen. T. Michael Moseley led the group, which included retired Air Force chief master sergeants and general officers as the leaders provided expert advice and recommendations to current Air Force leaders on issues including the future direction of the Air Force in air, space and cyberspace.

The leaders assembled were not only prominent authorities on air, space and cyberspace power, but also had broad expertise to bear in the areas of leadership, defense management, science, engineering, business, academia, legal and political-military disciplines.

"As we revolutionize the Air Force and redefine airpower to meet the challenges of the 21st century, it's invaluable to us to have a group like this contribute their views and expertise to help us set our vector," General Moseley said.

General Moseley led off the conference by giving his perspective on the lethal and uncertain global environment and the strategic challenges it presents to the country and the Air Force. He went on to list the many initiatives the Air Force is undertaking to meet those challenges even as it continues to accomplish its current missions.

"The result of these initiatives is a revolutionized Air Force that has the capability and capacity to achieve our national goals in an uncertain, dangerous and rapidly changing world," he said.

General Moseley described an Air Force that dominates the three strategic commons of air, space and cyberspace, and is capable of achieving global effects at the speed of sound and light.

"As our nation's Air Force, we have the enduring roles of seeing anything on the face of earth, ranging it, holding it at risk, striking it or supplying it or watching it, assessing it, and commanding and controlling all those activities," General Moseley said. "As we fulfill these roles, we also perform the vital strategic mission of detecting, deterring, dissuading and defeating threats to the U.S."

Detailed presentations followed on Air Force reorganization, space challenges, cyberspace initiatives and strategic communications efforts. Throughout the presentations, the group contributed historical perspectives from their experience as well as their frank views on the direction the Air Force should take.

"Building Air Force capabilities involves long lead times," said Lt. Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., deputy chief of staff for Strategic Plans and Programs. "The decisions we're making now have major implications for the future, so it's absolutely critical we take advantage of this group's corporate memory and expertise."

General Johns ended the conference with a briefing on Air Force strategic planning to ensure the Air Force is ready to fight tomorrow as well as today. He outlined the pressing recapitalization needs facing the Air Force even as defense budgets flatten.

"We have to recapitalize and modernize (the) force to increase the stealth, survivability, stand-off, reach, integration, lethality, speed and precision (whether manned or unmanned) that gives our nation its asymmetric advantage," General Johns said. 

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