APRIL 23, 2021 – Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. recently signed perhaps the most sweeping change of Air Force basic doctrine in the service’s history, marking a major milestone in the service’s strategic approach to “Accelerate Change or Lose.”
Core themes to the revised Air Force Doctrine Publication-1: The Air Force are the foundation and evolution of airpower and the concept of mission command.
“When it comes to airpower, it’s about the fact that we can fly, fight and win anytime and anywhere. That is tried and true – how we exploit the air domain, operating in and through the air domain,” Brown said. “That’s what we’ve done since we became an Air Force, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. How we do that might change based on what we see happening in the world and where technology might take us.”
With the Air Force recently releasing its new mission statement – To fly, fight and win … Airpower anytime, anywhere – the general said that “leaders need to ensure that all Airmen – active duty, Guard, Reserve or civilian – understand how much they contribute to airpower.”
The document defines the concept of mission command as a return to the philosophy of mission accomplishment guided by the commander’s intent, while operating in environments characterized by “increasing uncertainty, complexity and rapid change.”
“To drive commander’s intent, we have to be very broad in our thinking,” he said. “We have to give Airmen the leeway, without being very prescriptive, to lead and execute while still meeting intent. When Airmen are empowered, they’ll be able to make things happen that we didn’t even think about.”
In the document’s “CSAF Perspective on Doctrine,” Brown reminds Airmen: “Leaders must push decisions to the lowest competent, capable level using doctrine as a foundation for sound choices.” This core idea resonates throughout the rewrite.
AFDP-1 also updates the legacy airpower tenet of “centralized control, decentralized execution” to “centralized command, distributed control and decentralized execution.” This evolution allows for a framework from which to develop new operating concepts, strategies and capabilities to address rapidly changing and increasingly challenging operating environments.
Brown’s new focus on mission command and centralized command, distributed control and decentralized execution postures the Air Force to execute what he lays out in his “Accelerate Change or Lose” vision: “We must focus on the Joint Warfighting Concept, enabled by Joint All-Domain Command and Control and rapidly move forward…”
While AFDP-1 marks a significant departure from the generally slow pace of change in doctrine, it represents the significant change in focus by the Air Force from retrospective and incremental to future-focused and poised to seize opportunity.
Doctrine represents the best practices and principles that articulate how the Air Force fights. The recent rewrite of AFDP-1 represents a consolidation from 141 pages to 16 pages and a refinement of “the most fundamental and enduring beliefs describing airpower and the Airman’s perspective.”
With the March 2021 release of the “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance,” President Joe Biden reminded the nation “the distribution of power across the world is changing, creating new threats.”
AFDP-1 is poised to reorient the Air Force for the era of great power competition and accelerated change.
PERSPECTIVE ON DOCTRINE
Our Nation needs an Air Force that can fly, fight, and win as part of the joint team. Commanders must articulate intent and prepare to take the initiative in dynamic, contested environments. Doctrine offers an agreed upon, operationally relevant body of best practices and principles that articulates how we fight, captures our airpower experience, and guides how we operate within a joint force. It provides a starting point, so we don’t reinvent the wheel with every operation and allows us to continue to be the world’s most capable Air Force.
In today’s complex global security environment, victory goes to the rapid integrator of ideas. These ideas are driven by training and the distilled knowledge all Airmen bring to the fight. I’m relying on every Airman to innovate and incorporate concepts and technologies that will develop new best practices to shape future doctrine. We must prioritize and make difficult choices as we field a lethal, resilient, and rapidly adapting joint force. Leaders must push decisions to the lowest competent, capable level using doctrine as a foundation for sound choices.
Doctrine is an opportunity to educate, empower, and prepare for the future fight. It guides us, but does not bind us. I’m relying on every Airman to understand the lessons of doctrine, and then draw on them to innovate and incorporate concepts and technologies that will develop new best practices to shape future doctrine. This is how we solve difficult problems, make necessary changes, and how we accelerate change in our Air Force.
The tools in doctrine provide an excellent opportunity to build our foundation for future Airmen and forge unbeatable airpower for our Nation. Airmen should read, understand, contemplate, and prepare for the full spectrum of operations, from competition to armed conflict. Never forget General LeMay’s words: “At the very heart of warfare lies doctrine.”
Air University Public Affairs