Reoptimization for Great Power Competition

GPC Key Decisions

USAF Case for Change

Air Force FAQ for Reoptimizing Great Power Competition

“We need these changes now; we are out of time to reoptimize our forces to meet the strategic challenges in a time of great power competition.”

~ Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall

The United States faces a time of consequence marked by significant shifts in the strategic environment. To remain ready, the U.S. Air Force must change.

In early 2024, the Department of the Air Force unveiled sweeping plans for reshaping, refocusing, and reoptimizing the Air Force and Space Force to ensure continued supremacy in their respective domains while better posturing the services to deter and, if necessary, prevail in an era of Great Power Competition. Through a series of 24 DAF-wide key decisions, four core areas which demand the Department’s attention will be addressed: Develop People, Generate Readiness, Project Power and Develop Capabilities.

Today, the Air Force once again finds itself at a critical juncture—an era of Great Power Competition marked by a new security environment, a rapidly evolving character of war, and a formidable competitor. This new era requires understanding its challenges and the attributes needed to succeed.

Embracing change is not a choice; it is a necessity. The Air Force must “reoptimize” into an enterprise prepared for high-end conflicts and long-term strategic competition.

Staff Rides and PME - Bringing Critical Thinking to the Battlefield

Air University Public Affairs

Video by Michael Tate

Dec. 7, 2023 | 01:01:05

Dr. Bradford Wineman, Dr. Christopher Stowe, & Dr. Paul Gelpi

The historical staff ride has for over a century been lauded as a preferred, if not exclusive, pedagogical tool in the education of military professionals. Most current rides conducted by Professional Military Education (PME) institutions adhere to one of two methodological approaches: the character-driven (or role-player) ride and that which adopts the “Socratic dialogue” method. Each has its devotees within the PME establishment, and each offers advantages in its approach. Yet, since the dawn of the twenty-first century, criticism of staff riding has emerged to challenge these exercises’ utility. This panel acknowledges the merits of existing methods, yet it places its emphasis upon exploring alternate ways to execute the present and future ride. Interestingly, it does not favor an abandonment of past practices in toto. Indeed, it encourages the military schoolhouse to return to the intellectual spirit of staff riding as informed by the Clausewitzean concept of re-enactment—the insertion of the student in the place of an historical actor, without prejudice of what actually occurred—as a means better to execute PME’s mission of developing critical thinkers and creative problem-solvers. More