By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs, Operating
Location-P, / Published March 04, 2015
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force responded to the National
Commission on the Structure of the Air Force’s recommendations in a report to
Congress March 4.
Of the Commission’s 42 recommendations, Air Force officials
disagreed with only one and are already in the process of implementing 25, as
well as developing plans or pilot programs for another 16.
“The body of work that came out of the commission will help
us advance the ball toward an even stronger total force,” said Secretary of the
Air Force Deborah Lee James, “and I’m convinced the future of the Air Force
includes a greater reliance on our Guard and Reserve components.”
The disestablishment of the Headquarters Air Force Reserve
Command was the only recommendation in which the Air Force disagreed with the
commission. Elimination of the AFRC would not result in substantial savings, as
nine different major commands would have to assume the roles and
responsibilities currently accomplished by the Headquarters AFRC. Additionally,
the current structure allows the Chief of the Air Force Reserve to manage
authorized and appropriated Reserve resources as required by key statutory
obligations.
Over the last two years, the Air Force has made significant
progress toward improving collaboration and cooperation between the components
to strengthen and institutionalize relationships across the total force. All
three components have participated in the Air Force’s budgetary discussions and
planning from start to finish beginning with the fiscal year 2015 President’s
Budget. This process enables an integrated approach to maximize capability and
capacity in times of increasing fiscal constraints.
Transformation during wartime is difficult and the Air Force
is short of warfighting capacity in nearly all mission areas.
Even though the NCSAF report identified possible cost
savings associated with moving approximately 36,000 active Airmen into the
reserve component and related savings of roughly $2 billion, Air Force analysis
does not support this concept.
Based on secretary of defense-mandated dwell rates, the Air
Force has capacity shortfalls across almost all mission areas, assuming
approximately a 12% risk to meeting deployment demand and other requirements;
shifting the 36,000 to the reserve component would exacerbate this risk to
nearly 20%. To effectively meet requirements and maintain the active
component’s 1-to-2 and reserve component’s 1-to-5 dwell times , the Air Force
needs to grow both the active component and the reserve component.
“No one is more invested in total force integration than the
Air Force,” said Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, the Chief of Air Force Reserve.
“Going forward, there is no doubt that our Air Force is going to rely more, not
less, on our Reserve and National Guard forces. It is essential to leverage our
reserve components more effectively in the current global security
environment.”
The Air Force has spent the last year thoroughly analyzing
80 percent of the Air Force mission-sets and taking a close look at our active
component and reserve component balance. Over the course of the next year, the
Air Force will continue evaluating the remaining 20 percent of the mission
areas, as well as re-look at major mission areas that need further examination.
The overall assessment so far resulted in changes to the Air
Force’s fiscal 2016 budget. Nearly 3,000 positions were added to the reserve
component’s end strength. The Air Force bought back F-15C Eagles for ANG units
and actively associated them; re-established a classic association with the
RQ-4 Global Hawk; made some adjustments in the space positioning, navigation
and timing system; and grew reserve component in the cyber mission area.
“The evolution of our total force over the years is a great
success story, but much of that story has yet to be written,” said General Mark
A. Welsh, III, the chief of staff of the Air Force. “We need to be as good at
the headquarters level as our Airmen are at the operational and tactical
levels. Those Airmen, who’ve been fighting side-by-side for years, don’t see
the difference between an active component member, guardsman or a reservist.
And those who benefit from American airpower really don’t care. They just know
that without it … you lose.”
The NCSAF was established by Congress in 2013 to determine
how the Air Force’s structure should be modified to best fill current and
future mission requirements, and the commission first presented their findings
on Capitol Hill in January 2014. During the same period, the Air Force
initiated a comprehensive review of the Air Force total-force enterprise.
Upon completion of the Air Force’s internal review and the
commission’s report, the Air Force established the Total-Force Continuum, or
TF-C, an organization led by a brigadier general from each component. The TF-C
is charged with pursuing legislative, policy, educational, operational and
organizational changes to more fully integrate the three components into “One
Air Force” and identifying the optimal balance of Active, Guard and Reserve
across all mission sets. Subsequent recommendations continuing the Air Force’s
efforts at integrating across the components will be presented in future budget
proposals.
“One unified Air Force needs to be the way we do business
without even thinking about it,” said Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke, III, the
director of the Air National Guard. “We are committed to ensuring we evolve in
our total-force integration with a synchronized team always ready to deliver
unparalleled airpower anywhere in the world.”
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