The Air Force now has one organization—the 586th Expeditionary Mission Support Group in Kuwait—whose job it is to oversee USAF’s “in lieu of” forces deployed for the war on terror. “In lieu of” airmen are performing jobs that have typically been handled by soldiers, like convoy duty. The Air Force in September established the 586th EMSG to oversee what started in March 2004 as ad-hoc support to the Army.
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…