The Air Force is updating its core missions in an effort to address the evolution of airpower, officials announced in a new document that outlines the future vision for the service. The Air Force Future Operating Concept: A View of the Air Force in 2035, released this week and announced by Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James at ASC15, seeks to outline the future of Air Force operations. “The Air Force seeks bold and innovative approaches to its core missions, and success will also depend on close relationships with partners, particularly the members of the joint team,” wrote James and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh in an introductory letter. “The ideas in this concept form a basis for examination, experimentation, and capability development planning for building the Air Force of the future.” The future core missions of the Air Force will be adaptive domain control; global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; rapid global mobility; global precision strike; and multi-domain command and control. The changes—command and control to multi-domain command and control, global precision strike from global strike, and adaptive domain control from air and space superiority—were made to integrate new technologies, expanded approaches to the mission, and the continued expansion of space and cyberspace, the document states.
As commander of Air Forces Central, Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich has been at the heart of almost all U.S. military action in the Middle East, from overseeing airstrikes against Iranian proxy groups to protecting troops as America’s air defense commander for the region. Just before handing over his command to…