Welsh: Shift away from 'next-generation' thinking driven by urgency

摘要

Driving the Air Force's shift away from "next-generation" thinking in its vision for future air superiority is a need to field rapid, adaptable capabilities in a budget-restrained, evolving threat environment, according to the service's top uniformed official. The Air Force earlier this month released the first product of its air superiority-focused enterprise capability collaboration team ~ a group tasked with identifying options for meeting future air superiority demands. The document, titled the "Air Superiority Flight Plan," reveals that the service will use fiscal year 2017 funding marked for its Next-Generation Air Dominance effort to explore a "penetrating counterair" capability. Outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told reporters during a June 15 Defense Writers Group breakfast the approach is based on a need to field new, more expendable capability at a faster pace.