CSAF seeks improvements in warfighting Published Feb. 13, 2004 By Tech. Sgt. David A. Jablonski Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper outlined new ways to make 21st century airmen faster, more efficient warfighters.General Jumper spoke at the Air Force Association’s 2004 Air Warfare Symposium in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Feb. 12.The general’s key point in addressing future capabilities centered on exercising air and ground forces together in ways that ensure Army leaders know what air and space power can do for them. “What the (secretary of defense) told us to do is work this notion of a standing joint force headquarters,” he said. “One of the initiatives that we’ll roll out is the future force structure, a structure designed to put our numbered air forces directly in the planning process of the joint forces commanders on a daily basis using our air operations center weapon system to network -- set up around the world, 24-hours a day, seven days a week in close coordination. “It would be set up so that when we deploy forces it would be these AOCs that monitor the deployment of air expeditionary forces into the (area of responsibility) just like they would if they were in combat,” General Jumper said. “We don’t have to set our combat command and control systems aside until it’s time to go to war.”In the proposed new structure, the units would report to the numbered air forces who in-turn would report directly to the major command. The NAF could concentrate solely on its wartime missions. General Jumper said the Air Force can put together a suite of capabilities that would be the lynchpin in bringing together the command and control and the battle management that can link AOCs to get rapid decisions in the machine-to-machine global networking interfaces. “In the future we will make this AOC weapon system smaller and lighter until we get to the point that when we deploy an AOC, it’s a bunch of people getting on an airliner with laptops under their arms,” General Jumper said. “They can go set up virtually anywhere.”The general also discussed joint warfighting space. This concept suggests that military organizations with space capabilities can develop the ability to rapidly launch rocket payloads, such as micro-satellites with specific areas of operation for communication, or other sensors.“Networked properly with national security space, this will continue to leverage our space capabilities to the advantage of the joint force commander,” General Jumper said. ”This operationalizes space power with features we value most -- speed and responsiveness.”The general also said the Air Force wants to take a look at the kinetic capability of these rapidly launchable rockets. He described a conventional capability that will be focused on getting warheads on targets halfway around the globe in minutes or hours, instead of days or weeks. General Jumper also said that capability blends into the area of objectives that deal with long-range strikes. “(Placing) ground forces deep behind enemy lines, as the new Army brigade combat team concept of operations says it will do, (will require them) to have something close overhead and within one flight of the problem areas,” he said. “In this case we looked at a bridging capability to take us from where we are now, to what we might need to help us penetrate with a significant bomb load in those situations.”Finally, General Jumper said the Air Force would investigate using more blended wings.“We’ve seen the growth of the blended wings,” he said. “JSTARS (Joint Strategic Targeting and Reconnaissance System) has Air National Guard and active-duty serving together. We see the benefits of having units that can surge to increase crew ratios and increase availability of platforms engaged in combat, either through volunteerism or mobilization. We’ll do what we can to move those benefits into the fighter world.”