The Air Staff’s new A5/8 office will stand up on Oct. 1, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told an audience in National Harbor, Md., on Tuesday during his address at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. Air Force leadership announced in July plans to merge the Air Staff’s plans and requirements functions, the A5, with its strategic planning activities, the A8, into a new organization. As part of this change, financial programming formerly conducted by the A8 will shift to the service’s financial management organization. Welsh said back in July the A5/8 would be responsible for “developing, managing, and constantly assessing” the service’s strategy. Along with the A5/8 standup, the Air Staff’s operations oversight, the A3, which was formerly combined with the A5, will now stand alone.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth vowed to undertake far-reaching reforms on the way the U.S. military buys weapons, promising a sweeping overhaul of the way the Defense Department determines requirements, handles the acquisition process, and tests its kit. The fundamental goal, which Hegseth underscored in a 1-hour and 10-minute speech…
