The Air Force is asking industry and academia to tender some suggestions for lightening the weight and reducing the footprint of its combat support resources to make them more rapidly deployable. Air Force Materiel Command’s Air Armament Center issued a sources-sought notice last week, hoping to elicit some ideas for the Fiscal 2010 budgeting cycle. It wants “information on systems, tactics, and techniques that require less intertheater airlift and fewer personnel to support, erect, and maintain operations.” And, it wants “viable” concepts that could mature within the near-term (2010-2015), mid-term (2016-2025), or far-term (2026-2035) for functional areas ranging from aeromedical evacuation to maintenance and munitions and public affairs. The push is on because “present combat support resources are aging and are quickly becoming technically obsolete.”
Former AFCENT Commander Reflects on Lessons of Epic Fury
Sept. 13, 2026
Operation Epic Fury marked the U.S. military's largest air campaign in a generation, with strikes on 13,000 targets in Iran before the first in a series of shaky ceasefires began in April. Now, even as hostilities continue to flare up, Lt. Gen. Derek C. France sees several clear lessons that…


