Cuts to the Air Force’s structure and programs must be placed in the context of a strategy, warned two Air Force major command bosses. “I look at capability and capacity,” said Gen. Raymond Johns, head of Air Mobility Command, last week during the four-star forum at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. “We have a strategy and we are sized to meet that strategy. If it changes, we need to match the capacity to it. If [the strategy] doesn’t change, we need to be clear about what we can and can’t do.” Pacific Air Forces’ Gen. Gary North said he thinks “it’s a consensus that we won’t give up our ability to respond to a threat or disaster,” noting that cuts likely would come in areas like quality-of-life before readiness is endangered. “At some point,” he added, “we will go to the service Chiefs and say there’s less we will be able to do.”
CCAs and Autonomy Gain Momentum as Focus of Future Force
Sept. 29, 2026
For the past four years, the idea of autonomous drone warfare like Collaborative Combat Aircraft has been discussed as a future concept, rather than near-term reality. But now that promised vision appears imminent, with the Air Force promising at least 1,000 such drones by 2032.