As combat requirements evolve, so must the Air Force's unique capabilities to engage the enemy, the service's top officer said.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz discussed the role of Airmen in counterinsurgency operations and irregular warfare April 24 at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
During the event, hosted by the 21st Century Defense Initiative, General Schwartz answered audience questions and spoke about the challenges the Air Force will face while combating more sophisticated insurgencies and future irregular threats. He also noted one of the Air Force's most formidable assets: Airmen.
"Today's Airmen are truly remarkable," General Schwartz said. "There's no lack of talent out there. It's our responsibility as leaders to ensure we lead (our Airmen) well, train them properly and that we're honest with them."
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Peter Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative and author of the new book Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion. Dr. Singer offered insight about the metamorphosis of security, the economic environment and most significantly, the Airmen who serve today.
"We have a changing generation entering into service," Dr. Singer said. "We have 'millennials' joining, digital natives who've never known the world without computers ... a generation that, to them, the Vietnam War is as distant as World War I was to the Baby Boomers."
General Schwartz expounded on Dr. Singer's remarks, noting another significant dissimilarity between today's generation of Airmen and those of yesteryear.
"I think one of the key differences is less the character or the conviction of today's generation, but the fact that when you and I were younger, the Air Force was two-thirds single, one-third married and now the statistics, I believe, are exactly the opposite for each of the services: one-third single and two-thirds married."
The general said this inversion of numbers amounts to a service-wide focus on taking care of Airmen and their families.
"When you're talking about the people and skills we need to do this work, we're talking about family and spouses," General Schwartz said. "Are we catering to families? You bet we are! We're listening. If we don't do that, we're going to have long-term problems in terms of keeping and attracting the type of talent we need."
The general said he has full confidence not only in the ability, but the motivation of today's Airmen.
"Airmen are fully invested and performing spectacularly. They believe in what they're doing," General Schwartz said. "When they grow up to be leaders it'll be a different Air Force because of that visceral experience Airmen share with their joint brethren side by side."
The general added that Airmen are one factor in a combination of winning strategies that includes enhanced border security and tailored organizational structure and equipment.
"We have to be as skilled, as wise as and even more capable than our adversaries,"
General Schwartz said. "We need presence and surveillance in the Afghan-Pakistan border areas. It's critical that we partner with our Pakistani partners to disallow the sanctuaries from which the insurgents come."
The strategy to make it more costly and difficult to infiltrate into Afghanistan is valid and the additional troop presence is, in part, intended to help address that issue, the general said.
General Schwartz also indicated Air Force leaders plan to consider adapting an inventory of manned fighters with a "light strike" platform optimized for irregular warfare operations. A turbo prop aircraft dual-purposed for pilot flight training and building partner capacity may be on the horizon, he said.
"We want to minimize things that are single-purpose ... the way ahead is to have assets that can easily work both lower-end and higher-end kinds of requirements," the general said. "There is a legitimate need to talk about the light strike and building partner capacity roles, and we certainly intend to have that discussion in the coming months."
The general added that senior leaders would explore the development of an air wing dedicated to irregular warfare during this summer's discussions. He emphasized the Air Force's overall mission against the landscape of counterinsurgency and irregular warfare.
"We are part of the larger tapestry of Department of Defense capability," General Schwartz said. "Our basic strategy is to do whatever is necessary to make the defense team successful."
Amaani Lyle (AFPN)
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