Strategic Outlook

Air Combat Command and Air Education and Training Command released their 2014 strategic plans this week, highlighting very broadly their priorities and outlook for the coming year.

Both reports highlight the difficulties associated with maintaining a ready, capable and well-trained force amid a period of fiscal constraints and uncertainty. The documents are used to help give direction to the command as it makes plans over the next several years.

ACC, in its report, lists its core mission areas as: command and control; global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; air superiority; global precision attack; and personnel recovery. Its priorities within those mission areas include the Combat Rescue Helicopter acquisition and continuing to sustain fourth-generation platforms while also assuring that fifth-generation assets are capable "in the face of an evolving threat." The document also highlights a need to more accurately match ACC's ISR capability needs with actual requirements.

AETC's top priorities focus on enhancing the effectiveness of its training environment and on cultivating ethical and professional airmen. The document outlines a need to invest in training infrastructure that's both relevant to the threat environment and engaging for young airmen who are "increasingly reliant on technology."