By Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle, Secretary of the Air Force
Public Affairs / Published September 14, 2015
WASHINGTON, (AFNS) -- In her remarks at the Air Force
Association’s Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition Sept. 14, the
Air Force’s top civilian said the service will need to reduce bureaucracy,
enhance innovation and invest in its people to successfully expand, advance and
reinvent the aerospace nation.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James cited advances
throughout aviation history and interwove them with current and future
endeavors to illustrate how the service will integrate air, space and
cyberspace in new ways.
In defining the aerospace nation, which she called an
air-minded community that engages in, with and through air, space and
cyberspace, James reflected on her own experience last month when she got to
peer through a U-2 canopy high above Earth at more than 70,000 feet.
“As the spherical blue unfolded beneath me, I couldn’t help
but think about some of the early aviation pioneers and the expansive growth
and achievements of the aerospace nation,” James said. “Humans have always
sought to slip the surly bonds of Earth, from the wax wings of Icarus, to (Leonardo)
DaVinci’s 15th century ornithopter sketches, to Sir George Cayley’s plans for a
glider.”
The dream of flying, James recounted, has remained
“tantalizingly close” for centuries, but seemingly unattainable.
From flight’s nascence with the Wright Brothers at
Kittyhawk, North Carolina, to World War I-era militaries eyeing the plane as a
warfare instrument, to pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart,
whose transatlantic endeavors carried the zeal of aviation into post-war years,
to Neil Armstrong’s steps on the moon, air power has been a linear theme
throughout American history.
Aerospace nation’s new era
Today, the aerospace industry, James asserted, is the
cornerstone of the U.S. economy, and the nation relies on international
partnerships, pioneering discovery and innovation that deliver results for
decades.
And while these core elements are not new, other aspects of
aerospace very much are, the secretary noted.
“We now live in an age where an individual at a keyboard can
deliver air power effects through cyberspace, where the global commons and
global commerce depend on our capabilities that are delivered from space, and
where remotely-piloted aircraft are breaking new ground in an environment that
was once dominated solely by individuals in cockpits,” James said.
Challenges of evolving
Although the United States, as part of the aerospace nation,
has demonstrated unprecedented leadership and success, challenges such as
budget constraints, narrowing technological gaps among competitors, and
dwindling comparative advantages persist.
“A brand new graduate out of college may well set their
sights more on a job in the Silicon Valley than they would looking to work for
the U.S. government or for a large aerospace firm,” James said.
Moreover, time, risks and cost associated with government
and the aerospace industry might also discourage innovation and otherwise
willing participation from small businesses, the secretary acknowledged.
Still, James expressed confidence in the Air Force’s arsenal
of raw material in air, space, and cyberspace to rival the advances of the
1920s and 1930s in the aerospace nation.
“We have the technology, we have the know-how, we have the
talent to take the next great leap to bring on a new golden age of aerospace,”
she said.
The reinvention of the aerospace nation germinates within a
three-fold strategic framework: the 30-year plan “America’s Air Force: A Call
to the Future,” which explains why the Air Force must change; the “Strategic
Master Plan,” which indicates what the Air Force’s goals and development
objectives are; and the soon-to-come “Future Operating Concept,” which will lay
out how the service intends to leverage operational agility as a way to
suitably and swiftly adapt to any situation or any action.
“Integrated multi-domain operations -- cyber, space and air
will be central to this future operating concept,” James said.
A futuristic scenario
The secretary used a futuristic example scenario to better
illustrate the concepts.
“Imagine some years in the future a sprawling megacity of 12
million residents in a remote corner of the globe … is struck by a massive
earthquake,” James said.
In just a few hours, she explained, air-launched small
satellites are sent into orbit from the back of an Air Force mobility
transport. Sliding into orbit over the disaster area, these low-cost space
vehicles immediately tap into the broader space-based architecture, giving
first responders access to global communications and near real-time images of
the devastated city, James said.
“A usable airfield is then identified with the
newly-established overhead (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and
an Air Force air traffic control team already en route to the region is
vectored onto it,” the secretary said.
By the next day, flights begin flowing in and a launch and
recovery team launches dozens of small, unmanned aerial vehicles, controlled
remotely via a responsive satellite network.
“The (remotely piloted aircraft) then fan out to place broad
area wireless Internet and cutting-edge sensors in the hands of rescue crews,”
James explained. “The rescuers can now see places that they could not access
and can deliver supplies to areas that they cannot reach.”
At the same time, a cyber team in San Antonio, Texas,
uncovers a cell of violent extremists who are planning to attack rescue crews
and take some aid workers hostage, James related. The cyber team then relays
surveillance of the wireless router in the nearby town to the theater
operations center to locate the terrorist cell leader and thwart his actions.
“Some may say this is science fiction; I say scenarios like
this are precisely how our Air Force needs to work in the future -- blending
cyber, space and air in new and creative ways.”
Air Force top priorities
As a result, according to James, the Air Force’s top
priorities include taking care of people, striking the right balance between
current readiness and future modernization needs while making every dollar
count.
To remain the best Air Force, the service must remain
strategically agile in the recruitment, retention and development of its
people, the secretary stressed.
“We need (people) in the right job at the right time, and we
need to draw from the best of America’s diversity in terms of experience,
gender, race, ethnicity, background and training,” she said.
Of readiness and modernization, James acknowledged that the
service has the “oldest fleet in history,” with more responsibility than ever
before.
“We’re simultaneously trying to procure new aircraft while
fighting relentlessly in a half dozen different places around the world … at
the same time struggling to recapture higher levels of readiness for a high-end
fight.”
James subsequently called on Congress to permanently lift
sequestration and avoid a continuing resolution altogether.
“We have to send sequestration to the bone yard once and for
all,” she said.
The power of industry partnerships
In matters of stewardship, James said forging partnerships
with industry is more important than ever to keep programs more on budget and
on schedule. Of acquisitions, the secretary said the Air Force has made good
progress in employing many of the principles of former Under Secretary of
Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Ash Carter’s and current
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank
Kendall’s Better Buying Power, a cost-saving initiative.
“Our costs as a general proposition are trending downward …
and we’re meeting our key performance parameters for our major programs at a
rate above 90 percent,” James said.
But the Air Force must remain vigilant and open to new ideas
and innovative thinking, according to James.
As such, under what James calls the “should cost” approach,
the Air Force challenges its program offices and industry partners to beat the
independent cost estimate once a program is under way.
“After the savings are realized and validated, the funding
is then available to us that we can pump it back into that program and
portfolio,” she said.
To target delivery time, “should cost” leads to “should
schedule,” which incentivizes solutions to accelerate successful, independently
validated engineering, manufacturing and development, giving a business or
program office a competitive advantage for an award. “We’ll reward and
incentivize speed-to-ramp.”
Many challenges lie ahead to reinvent the aerospace nation,
but the secretary said she sees more opportunities than challenges.
“We won’t get this done overnight; this effort will take
time but it starts today, it starts here and now, it starts with all of your
help,” James said.
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