USAF Releases 20-Year Strategic Plan

The Air Force released the unclassified sections of its 20-year strategic master plan, which aims to outline the practical applications of the 30-year strategy published last year. “We must be more flexible in our posture at home and overseas, … align our science and technology efforts with innovative concepts … that will offer the opportunity to dominate in the future environment we envision, and adapt rapidly when it changes,” service Secretary Deborah Lee James and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh wrote in the plan’s introduction. The plan states that the Air Force’s two main goals are to increase “agility” and “inclusiveness,” according to its executive summary, released May 21. The plan targets agility by “strengthening our culture of adaptability and innovation” in future training, weapons, and organizations, according to the document. “Inclusiveness” aims at “empowering the members of the Air Force team, improving the structure and culture that populates it, and expanding our connections both outside and within the service,” it states. Service leaders said the plan “fills a void in strategic direction,” gives “year-on-year coherency” to planning, and provides “actionable tasks” for every level of command. The SMP gives a 20-year outlook, which will be updated every two years, while its four annexes—covering human capital, strategic posture, capabilities, and science and technology—will be updated annually.