Backtalk: Wynne on crafting a 21st-century Air Force

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Current engagements, future options

Crafting a 21st-century Air Force
By Michael W. Wynne

A false perception has arisen in the press that the Air Force is being crafted for some long-distant future war against an unknown peer competitor. During my custodianship of the service, this is simply not the case.

As the first graduate of West Point to have been confirmed to serve as secretary of the Air Force, I have worked hard and long to engage the service in the ground fight. The Air Force is a multifunction force with global reach, which is central to today’s ground fight and evolving global hybrid wars. These wars are a mix of low- and high-intensity threats and challenges. The nation needs a force able to fight simultaneously across the conflict spectrum. My approach to the Air Force has combined several key elements.

First, we need to build and deploy capability to deal with peer weapons in the hands of non-peer competitors. The F-22 is one instrument which will prove essential to the deterrence of states such as Iran, which seek to deploy sophisticated air defenses. With our air superiority fleet aging rapidly, we clearly need to replace core competence in dealing with air denial threats.

Second, the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have rapidly evolved ground-air integration capabilities. A mixed fleet of manned and unmanned aircraft provides today’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions, and such a mix is crucial to the viability of both. The ground-air partnership was enhanced by our deployment of systems such as Rover, which provide the ground forces with crucial links to air power, which can deliver both kinetic and nonkinetic capabilities.

Third, ground forces are not about ground platforms. Ground forces are about an ability to prevail in the type of mixed-intensity operations they face today, and air power is a crucial component.

Fourth, the lift and tanker fleets are being upgraded and replaced. I would hardly argue that C-17s, upgraded C-5s and C-130Js are being added simply to fight a future war. They are indispensable to fighting any type of war.

Fifth, the space-based systems, which the Air Force is modernizing, are the bedrock of connectivity so essential to the operations of the joint force. We are building a next generation of space systems to replace the 30-year-old space heritage systems we built in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sixth, we are modernizing precision strike. We are deploying lower-yield weapons, which can operate in close proximity to our ground forces as well as modernizing the strike fleet, which can hold adversaries at bay throughout the world.

We are facing stark modernization upgrades and choices. Unfortunately, there is a widely held perception that the Air Force legacy capability that the country has relied on for so long to ensure U.S. global reach will exist without significant modernization and upgrading.

My approach to the Air Force has been rooted in an approach that I argued for earlier while working in acquisition. As both deputy and acting head of acquisition, I argued for a connectivity road map whereby air, maritime and ground systems work together. This enhances capability and ensures we get away from stovepiping platforms. The new fifth-generation aircraft are at the heart of a connected, multifunction force capable of global reach.

To ensure that connectivity is viable, I underscored the need to enhance cyber defense of deployed forces. The question is not simply about protecting computers in the U.S., it is essential to protect the networks of deployed and engaged tactical forces. Indeed, because tactical forces are carrying out many of the strategic ISR missions historically done from space, cyber operations are indispensable to current and future capability.

In short, I have been able — with today’s airmen and -women — to craft an appropriate force for the present fight, the present threats and worrisome future threats. To do less would be to leave the nation at risk.

———

The writer resigned as secretary of the Air Force on June 5.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/communi...k_21st_062308/

Anyone care to translate this inane drivel into proper every day English that we "peons" can understand?
This dude is just another politician trying to cover his ass.