Air Force preps for mega overhaul with an eye toward China
The service is expected to announce major changes to its air wings and command structure this month.
Instead of a wing made up of fighter jets and another made up of bombers, the plan calls for mixing aircraft types within single wings. | Tech. Sgt. Carlton Creary/U.S. Air Force
By PAUL MCLEARY and LEE HUDSON
02/02/2024 12:10 PM EST
The Air Force is putting the final touches on a major structural shakeup that would remake the force as part of the Pentagon’s push to keep up with China’s military buildup.
Within the next few weeks, the service will announce it is consolidating some of its major three- and four-star commands, integrating fighter jets and bomber aircraft into single units, and beefing up its budget and planning shop, according to six people familiar with the plans.
The goal, the people said, is to streamline the Air Force’s lumbering bureaucracy and meet China head-on. The overhaul involves reorganizing how the service plans for, budgets and designs new aircraft, while likely kick-starting new uncrewed aircraft and fighter plane projects in an era when defense budgets are expected to increase slightly or stay relatively flat.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has been working on the plan — called “Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition” — since September. The people who spoke to POLITICO — a Space Force official, three congressional aides and two Air Force advisers — were granted anonymity to discuss plans not yet made public. All have been briefed on the project.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/02/air-force-command-overhaul-00139297
