The Air Force’s sweeping re-optimization effort is well underway, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said this week. But there’s one change in particular he is concerned may face some headwinds: the new Integrated Capabilities Command.
The service wants to establish the command, to be led by a three-star general, by the end of this year. ICC is meant to centralize and streamline the Air Force’s process for setting future requirements, while freeing other commands to focus more on current needs.
“There are a lot of things in motion right now,” Allvin said in a recent interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The new command is just one part of an ambitious agenda Allvin and other Department of the Air Force leaders are pursuing. The Air Force is in the process of changing its deployment models, training, concepts of operations, wing structures, and much more as part of its “re-optimization” effort to be better prepared to compete with China.
But when asked which initiative is the furthest away from being realized, Allvin pointed to the new command.
“I would say the one—for the vision that I have at least—is probably a sort of a final answer on Integrated Capabilities Command,” he said at the Pentagon on Aug. 14. “On the other ones, we already sort of have a path, as we know when we’re going to change out the wing structures, how we’re going to change out the commanders, and all that. … We have AFFORGEN to be able to develop and generate the readiness for that. That system is going to be in place.”
In contrast, Integrated Capabilities Command requires setting up a headquarters, which means it will receive special attention from lawmakers and will need Congressional approval.
“It involves moving of people, which is why it’s maybe the longest pole in the tent for a permanent solution,” Allvin said. “However, we can’t wait for the functionality to start.”
So, for now, the Air Force will set up a provisional command in the next three to six months, with experts located at other commands working on holistic requirements.
“We are now working with making the Congressional notifications for doing as much in place as we can, because I have to get the function starting,” Allvin said. “So there will be an element that is a core element that starts doing some of the functions of the Integrated Capabilities Command and the Airmen are being identified at the current MAJCOMs identified that will go.”
In late May, Allvin said around 500-800 Airmen would be working for Integrated Capabilities Command at the start. They would serve at “satellite locations” across the Air Force, including at major commands—though he said at the time those were preliminary figures.
Allvin acknowledged Airmen working in their current locations may create some “friction” at first, though he said “there is value in proximity” of Airmen being linked directly to Major Commands.
“Once we have everyone all in one spot, that’s probably going to be the ultimate solution,” he said.
ICC, Allvin said in his Aug. 14 interview, would start with a “small subset of what we’re expecting them to do.”
“It’ll expand and expand over time as we start maturing them,” Allvin added. “We’re being realistic about the pace at which we do this. … We still have to participate in the [Program Objective Memorandum budget] process and make sure we’re still modernizing the Air Force effectively. So that is one of those that we’re being very thoughtful about how we do it. But I’m anxious because I know the end state is a better modernization and force design execution of the Air Force once we get to that.”