Results (
Thai) 2:
[Copy]Copied!
The Challenge
The four strategic trends of the emerging global environment warrant scrutiny, but there is a characteristic common to all
that multiplies their significance – speed. The pace of change has quickened substantially since the Air Force’s inception,
but it has picked up most dramatically over the last two decades. We believe rapid change is the new norm and has
serious implications for the Air Force. The pace at which disruptive technologies may appear and proliferate will result
in operational advantages that are increasingly short-lived. Dynamic and increasingly frequent shifts in the geopolitical
power balance will have significant implications for basing, posture, and partner capabilities that may favor flexibility
over footprint. Similarly, more rapid changes that challenge access through – and freedom within – the air, space, and
cyberspace commons will demand continual attention and emphasis on identifying multiple domain options rather than
robust approaches within a single domain.
Uncertainty has always been a part of strategy development, and though we
anticipate the pace of change to continue unabated through the next 30 years,
rapid change need not be a threat. While it will clearly be a vulnerability to
those unable to adapt, it also becomes an enduring advantage to the agile. The
Air Force’s ability to continue to adapt and respond faster than our potential
adversaries is the greatest challenge we face over the next 30 years.
Meeting that challenge will require honest, recurring self-critique, and a
willingness to embrace meaningful, perhaps even uncomfortable change.
To their great credit, our Airmen – adaptive and resilient – are bridging the
widening gap between the dynamic 21st-century environment and our 20thcentury
bureaucracy. Their initiative and perseverance allow us to succeed
in our mission despite sluggish process and cumbersome structure that can
engender rigid thinking and stifle the creativity and innovative spirit we seek to
champion. We must commit to changing those things that stand between us and our ability to rapidly adapt. We owe our
Airmen and our nation an institution that can unlock our potential to thrive in the environment ahead.
To capitalize on this increasingly dynamic environment, the Air Force must aggressively pursue a path toward institutional
strategic agility. In the context of this strategy, the term “agility” is meant to capture the attributes of flexibility, adaptability,
and responsiveness. Flexibility is an enduring attribute of airpower; and adaptability – of our Airmen, organizations,
operational concepts, and weapon systems – has long underwritten that flexibility. It is the element of speed – the pace of
change – that drives the imperative for agility. This implies anticipation over reaction, shaping over responding. “Strategic”
in this context refers to the national security implications of how we organize, train, equip, and employ our Air Force.
Embracing strategic agility will enable us to “jump the rails” from our current path of 20th-century, industrial-era processes
and paradigms. It is foundational to our ability to continue providing the United States with effective security and influence
through Global Vigilance—Global Reach—Global Power beyond 2045.
Being translated, please wait..
