JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- In a deliberate effort to reoptimize for Great Power Competition (GPC), Air Education and Training Command (AETC) directed its’ headquarters staff, Nineteenth Air Force (19th AF) and Second Air Force (2nd AF) to establish “Centers of Excellence” (CoEs) to advance development capabilities across the Air Force.
To support the Secretary of the Air Force’s directive for AETC to reshape and redesignate as a reoptimized Airman Development Command (ADC), AETC analyzed the methods with which the command’s headquarters and Numbered Air Forces are executing training, curriculum development, operational integration, and more.
AETC’s “Centers of Excellence,” to be introduced at both the Headquarters and Numbered Air Force levels, will serve as primary focal points for early integration and coordination with Air Force Materiel Command, Air Combat Command, the service component commands, and the Integrated Capabilities Command regarding sustainment, operational feedback, and future capabilities development, ensuring initial skills training and leader development incorporates the competencies every Airman needs for success in GPC.
“The goal is to ensure we have Mission Ready Airmen who are prepared to integrate themselves as part of a joint expeditionary force, and ready to execute on behalf of combatant commanders,” said Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, AETC commander. “In order for this to be possible, ADC must develop Airmen with the warfighting concepts of today and the future. We cannot slow down, and we cannot play catch-up. We are out of time.”
Essential tasks driving each of the CoEs forward include:
- Develop curriculum; ensure center of excellence interoperability
- Develop training pipeline performance and health metrics
- Generate requirements to accomplish training
- Develop, review, and refine competencies including critical for wartime/mobilization
- Coordinate and develop new training requirements
- Integrate with Integrated Capabilities Command for future capability development
- Inform Air Force Doctrine
2nd AF is responsible for Basic Military Training (BMT), technical training, and expeditionary training for 93% of the Air Force along with joint, and coalition forces at four major installations and 98 operating locations around the world. A significant subject of discussion identified when confronting opportunities for reoptimization was the variety of training pathways within 2nd AF due to the number of Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) curricula requirements.
On any given day, 2nd AF is responsible for more than 5,000 basic military trainees, 16,000 technical training students in more than 265 Air Force specialties, and hundreds of international students.
Currently, the five “bins,” or CoEs where these AFSCs are expected to reside are broken down by their characterization: Institutional, Information, Logistics, Command and Control, and Combined Operations.
However, despite the grouping, ADC’s emphasis on competencies, and “mission over function” reigns supreme as leaders establish the new status quo.
“As part of our technical training transformation effort, we’re in the process of transitioning more of our courses toward a competency-based model, and with that model, there's more flexibility at lower levels to change individual tasks that are being trained than there is under the legacy construct,” said Maj. Gen. Wolfe Davidson, 2nd AF commander. “The reason being, if the desired competency remains the same, the specific tasks that you need to do it can change much more rapidly than the old approach.”
Another focus area involves integrating competency-based training tied to Agile Combat Employment operations across individual AFSCs that might have related duty requirements, allowing the command to jumpstart the development of the mission-ready Airmen we need for GPC, Davidson said.
“These CoE’s won’t just be focused on developing curriculum rapidly, but building training in an integrated manner that is forward looking and relevant in context of GPC,” Davidson said. “This begins by baselining warfighter skills in BMT and then in technical training, continuing that development for Airmen in similar AFSCs in order to provide Mission Ready Airmen to combat wings at graduation.”
Another major component to all Air Force training resides within the 19th AF, which will be home to the Flying Training CoE.
19th AF is responsible for more than 45% of the U.S. Air Force’s annual flying hour program and directs aircrew training courses cumulating in over 24,000 graduates annually. With 18 total force wings across 35 locations, the training encompasses undergraduate and graduate fixed and rotary wing pilots, remotely piloted aircraft pilots, combat systems officers, air battle managers, weapons directors, and graduate career enlisted aviators, which provides fully qualified aircrew personnel to the warfighting commands.
The 19th AF CoE will be focused on developing and maintaining existing flying training syllabi and courseware, and the development, review, and refining of flying training competencies. This will be done while leveraging and expanding upon the innovative work conducted over the past six years through various programs such as Pilot Training Next, Air Mobility Fundamentals, Fighter Bomber Fundamentals, and Pilot Training Transformation initiatives.
The establishment of the Flying Training COE represents a natural evolution of these prior transformation efforts. It positions 19th AF to continue advancing its capabilities by focusing on five key pillars through the lens of GPC: Quality Instructor Pilots, Student-Centered Learning, Use of Immersive Technology, Seamless Access to Quality Content, and Human Performance Optimization.
"This reorganization and the creation of the Flying Training Center of Excellence underscore our commitment to developing the most capable and adaptable Airmen," said Maj. Gen. Gregory Kreuder, 19th AF commander. "By building on our past successes and focusing on these critical pillars, we are ensuring that our Airmen are prepared to meet the challenges of GPC."
While not as vast in number of AFSCs as 2nd AF, the Flying Training CoE will be instrumental in refining and enhancing pilot training programs, making use of cutting-edge technologies and methodologies to provide a superior learning environment.
As the 19 AF CoE’s vision to set a new standard for pilot training grows clearer, and the 2 AF CoE’s framework for reimagining foundational curricula and competencies is developed; ADC grows closer to initial operational capability, directly supporting the USAF’s reoptimization for Great Power Competition.