Pushing The Envelope - AFSOC Shifts Gears

During the 2024 Air Force Association’s Warfare Symposium titled ‘Preparing for Conflict,’ Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall talked about the potential for a conflict with China or Russia during his opening remarks. This episode of ‘Pushing the Envelope’ explores how artificial intelligence and machine learning could be force multipliers in getting the Air Force and Space Force ready for a conflict Kendall said, “could happen at any time.” (U.S. Air Force podcast by Tech. Sgt. Janiqua P. Robinson)

In 1994 a mass shooting in the inpatient hospital on Fairchild Air Force Base left the Air Force community reeling. This tragedy led to changes in installation entrance and exit security procedures worldwide. Fast forward to 2018 and natural disasters pummel Offutt and Tyndall Air Force Base’s, devastating infrastructure but leading to a ramp up in how the Air Force is modernizing and fortifying installations. Throughout its 75-year history, the Air Force has used crisis to propel itself into innovation in the hopes of ensuring the same disaster doesn’t happen twice.

After decades of concentrating on Afghanistan and the War On Terror, AFSOC is pivoting to focus on strategic competition with peer adversaries; Russia and China.