A Strategy for a Vision, Due in June

Orlando, Fla.—The Air Staff is working on a comprehensive Air Force strategy document, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. “We’ve needed one for a while, and it will be done by June,” he told attendees of AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium here on Thursday. The strategy will have three components, which the Air Force will frequently update, he said. First, a 30-year plan will look at threats, strategic priorities, and lines of operation, and will be reviewed every two years and updated every four. Second, a “master plan” will look at the Air Force’s next 20 years and take core function documents and integrate them. This will enable trades across capability portfolios, from space to mobility, and provide “strategic off-ramps” if programs succeed or fail, said Welsh. Third, there’ll be a 10-year look closely reflecting the Air Force 2023 document, a resource strategy built around current budgets. Welsh said the new strategy document would fill in the missing piece left after the service’s release of a vision statement about a year ago, followed by last August’s “Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power for America” document that showed how every Air Force branch contributes to the service’s core mission areas.