{"id":84103,"date":"2024-09-16T10:01:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T10:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/09\/16\/how-the-air-force-averted-a-major-flaw-in-its-drone-wingmen-approach\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:03:18","slug":"how-the-air-force-averted-a-major-flaw-in-its-drone-wingmen-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2024\/09\/16\/how-the-air-force-averted-a-major-flaw-in-its-drone-wingmen-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Air Force averted a major flaw in its drone wingmen approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whatever the next chapter of U.S. air power will look like, there will be drones \u2014 and lots of them \u2014 accompanying manned fighters into battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as Air Force leaders translated their vision into an acquisition strategy, a novel meeting of the minds \u2014 at least by Defense Department standards \u2014 may have saved the service from a major miscalculation: A new cohort of so-called collaborative combat aircraft<\/a>, as originally envisioned, wouldn\u2019t be able to fly far enough to be effective in combat, which would have been a serious problem in the Pacific theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s according to acquisition chief Andrew Hunter, who spoke about the episode anecdotally to stress how the Air Force had changed its acquisition practices by soliciting early input from stakeholders who were previously consulted only later in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key to catching the range shortcoming, he said in a July interview, was the unique approach the Air Force took to buying the autonomous drone wingmen known as CCAs. The service brought operators from Air Combat Command into the room alongside acquisition experts, who would normally have taken the lead on a major procurement like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had \u2026 a lot of discussion about range to understand operationally, what was meaningful and what was going to be effective,\u201d said Hunter, the service\u2019s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With ACC operators\u2019 insights, he said, the Air Force was able to push contractors to find the \u201csweet spot\u201d of enough range, at a reasonable price and on the right timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That approach to acquisition is a hallmark of the Air Force\u2019s operational imperative effort, Hunter said, and could change how the service procures systems in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall rolled out his wide-ranging, seven-pronged operational imperative plan in March 2022, seeking to transform everything from how the Air Force deploys and sets up bases in war zones to procuring advanced aircraft \u2014 including CCAs, the Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter<\/a> and the B-21 Raider stealth bomber \u2014 and finding better ways to track and target enemy forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Biden administration\u2019s term nearing the finish line, Kendall\u2019s operational imperative transformations could prove to be his lasting legacy on the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And such modifications are already guiding other changes to the force. In a Sept. 4 panel at the Defense News conference, Hunter said the operational imperatives were the \u201cgenesis\u201d of a broader restructuring of the Air Force, called the reoptimization for great power competition, that was unveiled earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, the operational imperative effort<\/a> also prompted the Air Force to rethink how it does business and procures new aircraft and other systems, in particular by bringing the operational and acquisition communities together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the start, Hunter said, each team working on an operational imperative effort was co-led by an acquisition expert and an operational expert, so each perspective was equally balanced. The systems eventually developed will be used by the Air Force\u2019s operators, so involving them each step of the way was logical, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapidly moving acquisition process involves so many decisions \u2014 everything from choices on designs, contracts, schedules and how systems will be used \u2014 that there\u2019s no time to waste on creating systems that aren\u2019t immensely useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not one of those cases where we get a requirement, and then we in the acquisition community run off and do our thing, and then we come back at the end and say [to operators], \u2018Here it is, hope you like it,\u2019\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t scratch the operational itch, then we\u2019ve not succeeded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come, Hunter added, to move away from the lengthy, traditional model in recent decades of sending requests for proposal to a limited number of major firms and only picking one. Instead, the Air Force wants to move to a \u201cnext-generation\u201d acquisition model that continually works with a range of industry partners and iterates multiple designs over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Anduril and General Atomics have been selected by the Air Force to develop autonomous collaborative drones. Anduril has proposed its Fury aircraft, shown here, as the service’s first. (Anduril)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force\u2019s CCA program is the most prominent example of this approach. The service in April announced it had selected Anduril and General Atomics for the first \u201cincrement\u201d of the drones. And a second increment is on its way in fiscal 2025 \u2014 one that could produce autonomous drones dramatically different from the first batch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo not assume, and it may not be, just an evolution of increment one,\u201d Hunter said Sept. 4. \u201cIt could be an entirely different set of missions; it could be an entirely different kind of an aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chasing threats<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As the service works on operational improvements, threats faced by the United States continue to evolve. China, in particular, is focused on strengthening its own military for a possible invasion of Taiwan \u2014 and is doing so \u201cincredibly quickly,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe threat\u2019s not sitting still,\u201d Kendall said in a June interview with Defense News at the Pentagon. \u201cIt\u2019s getting worse, and it\u2019s … very creative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the Air Force adjusted its plans, supplementing its modernizing effort with other \u201coperational enablers\u201d that cut across multiple areas. The service also needed to improve capabilities, especially through greater munitions, better electronic warfare and mobility \u2014 like an envisioned future stealthy tanker, dubbed NGAS, for its next-generation aerial refueling system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Air Force changed course on Next-Generation Air Dominance<\/a>, a future fighter family of systems expected to replace the F-22. The price tag for each NGAD, as originally conceived, would likely have been about three times the cost of an F-35, Kendall said. The NGAD program is now on hold while the Air Force reconsiders its design, and it is unclear when the service will award a contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The imperatives were built around a \u201cfocus on operational problems we need to solve,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cWhat are the things we need to figure out to make sure we\u2019re competitive and stay ahead of other threats?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kendall said the Air Force is making progress on these imperatives, though he tempered his comments by noting that funding limitations and shortfalls in cybersecurity and other technology have kept the effort from moving as quickly as he hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m always impatient,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cI want to go faster to get militarily meaningful quantities out into the force that make a difference operationally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Kendall announced his operational imperative plan, work was already well under way on the 2023 budget proposal. This meant the first time the Air Force could request funding for new operational imperative efforts was in the 2024 budget cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Congress threw the Pentagon a curveball. Disputes on Capitol Hill held up the military\u2019s 2024 spending bill for months, and the fiscal year was already half over when lawmakers finally passed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the 2024 budget delay hindered much of the operational imperative effort, Hunter said, some elements \u2014 such as the command, control, communications and battle management, or C3BM, effort \u2014 were already under way or had existing funding to get going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force was able to move quickly to field C3BM capabilities, such as the cloud-based command and control effort that knit together several different air defense data sources to better defend the homeland. Hunter said that was able to be fielded rapidly over the last two-plus years or so, and has been successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because the program to develop CCAs was already under way as part of NGAD and had \u201csignificant\u201d funding, the Air Force was also able to keep it rolling despite the 2024 budget delay, Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as budgets get tighter, it remains to be seen whether the OI project will receive the funding it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lasting impact?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force\u2019s desired funding for operational imperative efforts grew from about $5 billion in 2024 \u2014 once the budget was passed \u2014 to $6 billion in the 2025 budget request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kendall said he\u2019s hoping to maintain full funding in 2026, but expects tight budgets to force the service to make \u201cdifficult choices,\u201d including whether the OIs will get the funding he wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growth of additive manufacturing, and technology advancements making it possible to conduct distributed manufacturing for high-end military capabilities, are also helping the Air Force create its new procurement model, Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can scale more rapidly,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can maybe work more intimately with partners and allies \u2026 which is definitely important to our strategy of integrated deterrence. You can do complex designs more affordably. These approaches are very consistent with rapidly adopting those technologies into our production and design processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter feels strongly that this approach to procurement \u2014 with tighter cooperation between acquisition experts, industry and operators and more frequent iterations to evolve designs \u2014 will one day become standard for the Air Force, and perhaps other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the way to do it, now and in the immediate future,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cI don\u2019t see a date where it will become less relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not an entirely new approach, he said, but it is a habit the Air Force had gotten out. He compared this strategy to that of the World War II and post-war eras \u2014 when aviation technology transformed by leaps and bounds \u2014 as opposed to the late-Cold War era of the 1980s and 1990s, during which the pace of advancements slowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChange was happening so fast\u201d during WWII, Hunter said. \u201cAnd you see \u2026 how quickly we were able to develop rockets and missiles in the \u201850s and \u201860s. The pace of change and progress was so fast that it drove us towards these more tight-knit relationships among experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not unprecedented, but I definitely think it\u2019s a little bit of a \u2018back to the future\u2019 scenario of behaving a little more like we did in those earlier periods.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Air Force is bringing operators into the acquisition process earlier under the operational imperative effort, Andrew Hunter 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