JULY 2, 2025 – As part of Air University, Air War College provides graduates with the knowledge and tools to think strategically about the security implications of future operating environments, supporting lethality, warfighting and homeland defense missions through educational experience.
The AWC is a joint professional military education II producing school, meaning it is accredited by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction as part of the Officer Professional Military Education Program. In addition to meeting guidance from the Air Force, being a JPME II institution means the AWC is required to meet the guidance published by the Joint Staff. This involves demonstrating compliance with guidance and standards.
Through a curriculum emphasizing joint all-domain operations, strategic thinking, adversary analysis, technological innovation and leadership development, AWC directly supports the Air Force mission by developing air-minded, joint warfighters.
“The Air War College develops strategic leaders who can effectively contribute to joint and multinational operations,” said Chris Wilbeck, AWC Academic Affairs associate dean. “Our graduates have an understanding of the complex threat environment and are able to lead or contribute to joint operations to address challenges across the spectrum of conflict. Graduates are prepared to serve in senior leadership roles and contribute to national security at the strategic level.”
The curriculum consists of seven core courses and multiple options for research, electives and concentration seminars that have all seen significant change over the past few years. The lethality and warfighting linkages embedded into these courses allow students to creatively apply military power, conduct globally integrated operations and fight under conditions of disruptive change.
There’s a focus on developing strategies and joint warfighting plans to achieve national objectives, said Wilbeck, and then effectively communicating those complex ideas.
“Air War College teaches strategic thinking, international security and geopolitics, but it does so with an unrelenting focus on how military leaders can solve real-world problems in those spaces,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ryan McCaughan, Headquarters Air University director of staff and AWC graduate. “We don’t study geopolitics for the sake of academic curiosity…we study it so we can be active participants in shaping it.”
McCaughan further explained the curriculum overlays joint planning and how to impact the world through a methodical operational approach, then pressure-testing these skills through intense wargaming of modern global challenges.
“[At the Air War College] I was surrounded by proven warfighters, lawyers, medical professionals, international colleagues, and others with an incredible diversity of experience and thought,” said McCaughan. “The absolute depth of the staff and students’ academic bench can rival any civilian institution. The faculty consists of people who have written doctrine, negotiated directly with allies and fought in the conflicts that we’re studying. The academic rigor is certainly there.”
The Air War College incorporates multiple wargames throughout the academic year. Four of the seven core courses incorporate some form of wargame, and throughout the year, twelve days are dedicated to wargaming. The Operational Wargame System, a primary wargame initially developed by the U.S. Marine Corps, requires the integration of joint forces and capabilities, providing a mechanism to understand joint all-domain operations.
This allows the AWC to explore plausible future scenarios using future force structure, capabilities and concepts, ending the academic year with the capstone exercise – Global Challenge. This week-long exercise and wargame is a summative application of the knowledge, skills and attributes gained during the academic year.
Nearly all electives, research options and concentrations for the 2026 academic year have been revamped to focus on addressing lethality and advancing the art and science of joint warfighting. These improvements and additions will help to continue the development of forward-thinking, joint warfighting leaders and advisors who are equipped to navigate and influence the complexities of the current security environment.
As one of the newly developed core courses in AY26, the Contemporary Strategy course will examine ongoing and recent wars. This course focuses on the Russia-Ukraine War and the ongoing wars in the Middle East (particularly those in Gaza, Yemen, the Levant and Iran), including an assessment of the role that airpower, nuclear coercion and deterrence, and the defense-industrial base plays in the outcome of these conflicts.
“Air-minded is what our Air Force needs our graduates to be….and our nation needs warfighters in order to meet our national security objectives through the calibrated and focused application of lethal combat power,” said Wilbeck. “This is something that no civilian academic institution can replicate, and emphasizes the importance of joint professional military education.”
While attending the AWC, students also build partnerships with international officers from around the world, the international officers making up approximately 20% of each seminar’s attendance. The relationships built over the course of the academic year continue after graduation, enhancing overall partnership between nations.
“The Air Force needs leaders who know how to integrate into the bigger strategic picture that is modern-day-warfare,” said McCaughan. “I was drawn in by the passion of the faculty and of my fellow students…and through it all, the relationships you build with classmates, faculty and international partners, are everlasting.”
Story by Tech. Sgt. Savannah Waters
Air University Public Affairs