James: Future Operating Concept Coming

The Air Force this week will unveil a “future operating concept” explaining a tighter integration between the air, space, and cyber domains, Secretary Deborah Lee James announced Monday at ASC15. The white paper represents the third element of a three-part “call to the future,” which began with the “why” of the Air Force, was followed by the “what”—in the form of the strategic master plan—and will now get to the “how,” James said. She described a scenario in which USAF responds to a natural disaster overseas, first launching “smallsat” from a cargo plane and remotely piloted aircraft to provide situational awareness, followed by relief-bearing cargo flights and a cyber sweep which detects terrorists planning to attack the relief force. The terrorists are then found and targeted by the RPAs. James told conference attendees to “stay tuned” for more details later this week.