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.

[VO/SOT] Army dedicates autonomous leader-follower trucks to fallen Soldiers

DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center

Video by Douglas Halleaux

April 9, 2019 | 1:35

SCRIPT FOLLOWS:

Here at Fort Bliss, straddling Texas and New Mexico, the Army Engineers who are working to bring automated driving to the military’s trucking units are taking a knee and holding a special ceremony. As the very first “Automated Leader-Follower” trucks are prepared for Soldiers’ hands, the leaders nurturing the technology want to be sure the inspiration for the technology’s advancement is never forgotten.
Major Andrew Scruggs is the Military Lead for Expedient Leader-Follower, a project within the Army’s newly-formed Army Futures Command. His teammates are hosting a ceremony to dedicate each of the first sixteen autonomous leader-follower vehicles to one of sixteen fallen Motor Vehicle Operator Soldiers who was killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“And so, really, the reason why we’re dedicating these vehicles is because every time we get an engineer, every time we get a government member that’s a part of this team, this is complicated stuff that we’re doing. It’s a very high level of rigor, activities, and sometimes people can get burned out, but when they see that vehicle data plate on that truck that they’re working on, they’re going to be reminded of why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what their efforts could potentially help the army to achieve and what the Soldiers’ families could potentially achieve from this.”
The trucks will carry special data plates on them, describing the service and sacrifice of each of these fallen Soldiers. Next for these trucks is more testing, then the first two sets for Soldier use will go to Fort Sill and Fort Polk later this year. More