Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, along with other senior leaders, shared details Nov. 13 about the service's new "One Force Design," including an overview of future operating concepts to generate increased lethality and effective combat power in contested environments.
"Permissive environments have become the exception rather than the rule," Allvin said in his keynote at the Mitchell Institute Airpower Futures Forum. "Contested environments are the new rule."
The "One Force Design" document, which Allvin signed on Oct. 4, introduces a transformational framework that enables the Air Force to build force structures tailored to the complex threats of the Great Power Competition environment. Force Design capitalizes on trends and analysis to develop the right mixture of capabilities to be employed in an integrated manner with other Services and our Allies and partners.
"This Force Design ensures that we push the most lethality, the most combat effectiveness, and the best Air Force we can forward for the nation," Allvin said.
As written, the Force Design employs an analytical approach based on three mission areas defined by density of the threat over the global landscape. These mission areas include:
• Mission Area 1 capabilities that can be postured within, and generate combat power from, a dense threat area under constant attack.
• Mission Area 2 capabilities that have the range to operate from a defendable area beyond an adversaries' line of fire and can project force into highly contested environments.
• Mission Area 3 capabilities that have the flexibility to span a range of potential future crises; they can cover most of the world from positions resilient to limited adversary attacks.
"Capabilities across all three mission areas need to synchronize and operate together; that's the power of this. This is where we need to be - the integration of all capabilities," said Lt. Gen. David A. Harris, deputy chief of staff for Strategy, Integration and Requirements.
Force Design provides the framework that enables the Air Force to be agile and set priorities that evolve the force structure in a way that maintains air superiority against the ever-changing character of war.
"The changing character of war privileges the very things that are in the Air Force's wheelhouse - things that are part of our DNA," Allvin said.
The Chief of Staff emphasized "This [One Force Design] is about taking back the offensive. Airpower is at its best when it is on the attack…The adversary is moving out with its agenda. We need to move on ours so the U.S. Air Force remains the most dominant [force] on the face of the planet."
One Force Design enables the Air Force to continuously evolve. It allows the Air Force to adapt to technological advances, shifts in the threat environment, and changes to national strategy. It ensures that the service maintains its competitive edge through deliverable trade-offs.
Click here to view the One Force Design executive summary.
