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Reoptimization for Great Power Competition

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Department of the Air Force
 

 

 

LATEST NEWS

 

“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
 

Air Force & Space Force announce sweeping changes to maintain superiority amid Great Power Competition

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.

 

USAF, USCG Join for Rescue Training
920th Rescue Wing
Video by Master Sgt. Kelly Goonan
Oct. 6, 2020 | 0:41
The 301st Rescue Squadron, 920th Rescue Wing, partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard for hoist training off of a Florida coast recently. Our HH-60G Pavehawk helicopters hoisted pararescuemen from the mobile U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore.

This training requires the entire crew to be in complete coordination; the pilots must hold a hover with minimal visual references of a moving vessel while the special mission aviators direct the pilots where the helicopter needs to be positioned over the ship so the PJs below can hook up a patient all while the ship is moving through the ocean, pitching and rolling.

The 920th RQW is the only wing in the Air Force Reserve Command that trains and equips its Airmen who carry out its mission, to search for, locate and recover U.S. Armed Forces personnel during military operations. Air Force rescue is the only DoD entity specifically organized, trained and equipped to conduct personnel recovery operations into hostile or denied areas as a primary mission.
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Space Force Great Power Competition

 
Department of the Air Force