A key committee advising the Air Force on possible restructuring in upcoming years suggested proportionally and concurrently fielding new equipment across active duty, reserve and national guard components.
The independent National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force said in its final report to the president and Congress, in advance of full integration, new equipment should arrive at air reserve component units simultaneously with its arrival at active component units in the proportional share of each component. As the reserve and active component become fully integrated, the Air Force should ensure that the Air National Guard receives new technology concurrent with the integrated units. The Air Force should no longer recapitalize by cascading equipment from the active component to the reserve component, said the report, which was released Thursday.
The report said the Air Force increase in unit associations would aid in proportionally and concurrently fielding new equipment. Instead of a trickle down approach, where older equipment is assigned to air reserve component units as it is replaced by modern equipment in the active component, new equipment should be “horizontally-” fielded across all components annually. The commission said current fielding plans for the next-generation KC-46A aerial refueling tanker follow a somewhat similar approach, while to the contrary, current plans for the F-35 fall “considerably” short of this recommendation.
The recommendation, one of many made by the commission, goes with a proposal for increased unit associations, which the commission said would lead directly to improved processes and more effective and efficient employment of the Air Force. Commission Chair Dennis McCarthy said Friday this proposal would be a difficult, but necessary, culture change for the Air Force.
“That is a paradigm shift, that’s a difficult change,” McCarthy told reporters Friday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “But it’s one of these instances I think where you’ve got to read that in conjunction with our recommendation for integrated units. It seems to me that if you have the integrated units, that makes it a lot easier to horizontally-field equipment, and so we’re hopeful that…they’ll see the value of the integrated units, and in creating the integrated units, see the value of making sure they’re fielding the new equipment proportionally across the force.”
Air Force Secretary Deborah James said Friday via a spokeswoman the service, going forward, is going to rely more, not less, on its national guard and reserve forces. This makes sense, she said, not only from a mission standpoint, but from an economic standpoint. James said there will be a great deal of symmetry between many of the recommendations from the commission and what the Air Force proposes for the way ahead. James Wednesday predicted the Air Force would shrink going forward (Defense Daily, Jan. 30).
The commission was established by Congress to comprehensively study the Air Force and its three components–active, reserve and the Air National Guard—and determine how the Air Force’s structure should be modified to best fill current and future mission requirements, including homeland defense, with available resources. The KC-46A is developed by Boeing [BA]. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC].
Commission spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy said Friday the Air Force will field its first operational F-35s at Hill AFB, Utah, which as an active duty and a reserve associate wing. She said this provides a great example of the Air Force’s “Total Force” vision, which seeks to increase capability from new technology while leveraging the experience, stability, continuity and cost-effectiveness of the Air Force’s reserve personnel.
For the KC-46A, Cassidy said the Air Force will ensure reserve component involvement from day one by establishing active/reserve associations at all United States main operating base locations. McConnell AFB, Kan., is the “preferred alternative” to receive the KC-46, Cassidy said, and the presence of a reserve associate wing was a major consideration in this basing option.