Commentary | Accelerating change today to ensure air dominance tomorrow – By Bruce Wright (Defense News) / Sept 26, 2022
The U.S. Air Force celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding last week. There is much to celebrate about the accomplishments of our Air Force over the past three quarters of a century, but today, as China is increasingly bellicose and Russia is waging a brutal war against Ukraine, American air power is no longer the dominant force we need it to be.
Our Air Force is smaller, older and less ready than at any point in its 75-year history. America did not protect its strategic edge with continued investment and technological advancement in recent years, and it is not getting its pilots the flight hours they need to maximize proficiency; meanwhile, China and others invested with a vengeance to catch up to our enviable capabilities.
Gen. CQ Brown has called on airmen to “accelerate change” ever since becoming the 22nd Air Force chief of staff in two years ago. His blunt warning, delivered again at last week’s Air & Space Forces Association’s biggest ever Air, Space & Cyber conference, has been that the service must embrace new ways to accomplish the mission or risk losing in the future.
“We have done this before,” he said. “And we will do it again.”
