Information will need to move faster between the cells of multi-domain command and control centers to keep up in future warfare, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said Tuesday. Speaking at the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington D.C., Goldfein said that when he served as the US Central Command Combined Forces Air Component Commander, he believed his primary role would be placing the correct air assets over the battlefield, but that he spent most of his time on regional command and control and “pulling together all the capabilities and optimizing all the components to be able to do this business of transregional warfare and pulling all the domains together.” He called the interaction at the combined air operations center, which included space, personnel recovery, coalition nation, and other US agency cells, “magical,” but said it was “way too slow for the future of warfare that we’re talking about.” Goldfein suggested the use of vertical integration and autonomous software will enable quicker responses between domains. He said the services already know the basics of multi-domain integration, but it’s just a “matter of taking it to the next level.” During the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said organizational innovation is an important piece of the Third Offset strategy he is pushing for and referred to the expansion and refinement of the CAOCs as a typical example. (See also: CSAF’s Way Forward and Finding the Sweet Spot.)
Competitors Not Picked for CCA Look Forward to Increment 2
April 25, 2024
While none of the major aircraft contractors were selected to develop the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, all three say they are seeking further autonomous aircraft work for the Navy, foreign partners, or in the classified arena, and maybe future versions of the CCA itself.