The character of military competition in the air domain is rapidly changing, which potentially increases the vulnerability of air operations for the US and other nations that rely on airpower. In light of this evolving environment, what are the future strategic opportunities and vulnerabilities that could impact the role and function of the USAF, and how can they be effectively addressed? Furthermore, as the strategic landscape shifts, what are the new or expanded roles for the USAF?
Specifically, what is the impact of the new capabilities introduced in the SECAF's Operational Imperatives and the new way of fighting articulated in the CSAF’s Future Operating Concept? Ultimately, to execute these new roles and functions successfully, how should the USAF change its overall organizational structure to effectively support these new capabilities and adapt to the changing character of war?
- Beers. Lt. Col. Shannon, "Congress, Commander in Chief and the Implications for the Department of Defense," AF Fellows Portfolio (Georgetown), 2025, 19 pgs.
- Beers identifies a strategic vulnerability in the USAF's role: an overreliance on fifth-generation stealth technology (such as the F-35, F-22, and NGAD) as a "silver bullet" for future conflicts. Because modern adversaries are increasingly capable of threatening U.S. airpower without relying solely on radar, treating stealth as the only necessary attribute becomes a liability. To address this vulnerability, he argues the USAF must maintain a mixed force design that values capabilities like rapid weapon integration, external carry, and air-to-ground sensors to complement its stealth platforms in the frequent, smaller conflicts it will inevitably be tasked to fight.
- Blasdel, Tyler R., "'The Enemy of My Enemy': A History of the USAF's Fixed-Wing Aggressors," SAASS thesis, 2025, 90 pgs.
- Carrillo, Maj. Marlena J. Sultemeier, "Peaceful Power: Supporting U.S. Foreign Policy's Sacred Courier," AFGC thesis, 2025, 46 pgs.
- Carrillo answers this by advocating that "diplomatic airlift" must be explicitly recognized in Joint Doctrine as a core Air Force capability and a critical component of the spectrum of conflict. She highlights that Executive Airlift operates outside standard military air traffic structures and is fundamentally different from traditional mobility or operational support airlift because it provides contingency-agnostic, constant airborne command and control for high-ranking officials. By conceptually expanding this mission as a distinct instrument of soft power and integrated deterrence, Carrillo argues that the Air Force can align Executive Airlift's doctrinal footprint with its strategic national security importance.
- Castle, Maj. Nicklas A., "So Many Targets, So Little Time: Overcoming Airpower's Struggle to Win in Future Joint Fight," GCPME, 2024, 60 pgs.
- Heistuman, Tom J., "Dusting off the Defensive Playbook: Analyzing Cold War Defensive Strategies for Modern Threat Environments," SAASS thesis, 2024, 116 pgs.
- Heistuman answers these topics by evaluating the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) scheme of maneuver as the necessary response to China's Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2AD) network and long-range missile threats. He argues that the USAF can no longer rely on large, centralized main bases, which have become prime, lucrative targets. To address this vulnerability, he recommends that the USAF combine active and passive facility hardening with on-base dispersal and distributed operations. Distributing operations across multiple bases, while spreading aircraft out within those bases, forces China to expend significantly more of its finite munitions to successfully degrade US airfields.
- Taylor, Maj. Zane Jarrett and Maj William Dean Long, "Maneuvering in Contested Skies: Factors Impacting Air Operations in the European Theater," ACSC elective paper, 2024, 16 pgs.
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- Al Otaibi, Christena, "All for One, One for All: Military Realignment is Necessary to Meet Challenges of Modern Warfare," GCPME paper, 2024, 86 pgs.
- Barnes, Maj. Geoffrey T., "Airpower as a Cottage Industry: Exploring Sortie Generation Capacity from Dispersed Bases," GCPME thesis, 2024, 54 pgs.
- Beers. Lt. Col. Shannon, "Congress, Commander in Chief and the Implications for the Department of Defense," AF Fellows Portfolio (Georgetown), 2025, 19 pgs.
- Beers argues that the character of war has shifted heavily toward executive-led, undeclared, rapid-response military interventions—such as recent operations in Yemen or the hypothetical "Operation Midnight Hammer" in Iran—rather than large-scale, formally declared wars. To adapt to this paradigm, the USAF must discard any expectation of a "peace dividend" and organize its forces for continuous, agile, and shorter-duration combat deployments. Furthermore, because military actions are increasingly weaponized as partisan political tools via the War Powers Resolution, he stresses that the DoD must proactively enforce policies that protect its nonpartisan role and safeguard its institutional integrity.
- Bingham, Maj. Jason, "A Thinking Culture Accelerates the Rate of Change: John Boyd, David Marquet and the Future of United States Military," ACSC paper, 2022, 37 pgs.
- Bordeau, Capt. Adam et al, "BBP on Engineering Support to Deployable Combat Wings," SOS AUAR, 3 pgs. and slides, 2025.
- Bordeau answers this question by arguing that the Air Force must formally integrate engineering support into the newly established Deployable Combat Wings (DCW). He points out that the current organizational model for DCWs lacks defined roles for the engineering community, leaving the Air Force without a mechanism to rapidly develop or adapt battlefield technologies at the pace required by Great Power Competition. To effectively adapt to the speed of modern warfare, Bordeau recommends an organizational restructuring that includes converting billets and getting functional manager buy-in to embed engineers directly into combat and installation wings, which will allow for rapid, tactical problem-solving at the operational edge.
- Carrillo, Maj. Marlena J. Sultemeier, "Peaceful Power: Supporting U.S. Foreign Policy's Sacred Courier," AFGC thesis, 2025, 46 pgs.
- Carrillo answers this question by arguing that the Air Force must temporarily reorganize the 89th Airlift Wing as a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) rather than keeping it doctrinally and administratively buried under Air Mobility Command (AMC). She explains that the current organizational structure forces Executive Airlift to compete for limited resources against standard "Rapid Global Mobility" assets. By establishing the wing as a DRU reporting directly to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the organization would be better postured to secure distinct acquisition funding, implement tailored personnel management, and fulfill its unique role in delivering integrated deterrence during an era of Great Power Competition.
- Foster, Capt. Matthew, "BBP on Standardizing Organization in Squadrons," SOS AUAR, 2024, 2 pgs.
- Glojek, Lt. Col. Gary, "Ready to Fight All Night: High-Tempo Airpower Generation," AF Fellows, 2024, 49 pgs.
- Gulick, Branden W., "To the Ends of the Earth and Beyond: A Strategic Analysis of the Sustainability of the Unified Command Plan," SAASS thesis, 2023, 143 pgs.
- Langan, Lt. Col. Dan, "CAF Flightline Maintenance Should Reorganize to Align with AFFORGEN," AF Fellows paper (Argonne National Laboratory), 2024, 4 pgs.
- Lipton, Ashley, "Rebalancing U.S. Air Force Global Posture: Prioritization, Resilience and Deterrence in an Era of Strategic Constraint," AF Global College thesis, 2025, 45 pgs.
- Murphy, Brandon S., "Know Yourself to Change Yourself: Organizational Identity as a Catalyst for Positive Change," SAASS thesis, 2023, 77 pgs.
- Sliger, Lt. Col. Jill N., "Airline Pilot or Air Reserve Technician? The Impact of the Mobility Pilot Retention Crisis on the Department of the Air Force," AFGC thesis, 2026.
- Sliger tackles this question by highlighting how the current organizational structure of flying squadrons imposes an unsustainable administrative burden on Reserve pilots, diminishing their quality of life, increasing burnout, and detracting from their primary mission of flying and instructing. To effectively adapt and preserve combat readiness, she recommends a fundamental restructuring of squadron manning to include dedicated Commander’s Support Staff (CSS) billets and the strategic use of contractors to handle high-turnover administrative tasks. By changing the organizational structure to purposefully offload non-flying duties, the Air Force can optimize aircrew efficiency, structurally protect essential training hours, and retain the experienced instructor and evaluator pilots necessary to generate combat power.
- Taylor, Lt. Col. Robert M., "A Case for Mission Command in Air Force Culture," AWC Strategic Studies paper, 2018, 27 pgs.
- Thompson, Wayne D., "The Art of the Possible: Helping Depot Maintenance Support to Deliver Mission-Capable Aircraft to the Warfighter," AFGC 2024, 33 pgs.
- Tindall, Maj. Aaron, "From the Wallow to the Air and Beyond: The History of the Wild Boars of the 390th," SAASS thesis, 2025.
- Tindall addresses this topline question by critiquing the current structural alignment of the 390th ECS, which currently operates as a Geographically Separated Unit (GSU) under a traditional fighter wing, the 366th Fighter Wing. To better adapt to a modern operational environment that demands EMS superiority, Tindall explores organizational realignments, such as moving the 390th ECS and the EA-37B under the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing. Former commanders note that this shift would force the 350th to focus more heavily on EMSO warfighting and establish a true center of gravity for Air Force electronic warfare. Alternatively, Tindall suggests the Air Force could adapt its organization by standing up an additional Spectrum Warfare Wing focused specifically on operational flying squadrons, or by fully manning its own Growler squadron to ensure absolute unity of command and a pure focus on EMSO, effectively bypassing the tribalism of traditional fighter wings.
- Tornay, Lt. Col. Alan M., "Air Force Reserve Command Owning Bases (A Case Study of March Air Reserve Base)," AWC Strategic Studies paper, 2018, 29 pgs.
- VanDriel, Josephine M., "Institutional Change in the Department of the Air Force," SAASS thesis, 2025, 136 pgs.
- Barry, Lt. Col. Matthew, "Organizing for Mission Command," published in Wild Blue Yonder (May 27, 2024), Winner of the LeMay Doctrine Center Essay Contest.
- Limoge III, Maj. Jerome, "Planning to Fail: Operational Persistence through Mission Command," published in Wild Blue Yonder (June 3, 2024), Finalist in the LeMay Doctrine Center Essay Contest