MAXWELL AFB, Ala -- The Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education is launching some of the largest doctrine changes in recent memory to support the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s mandate to “accelerate change or lose.” The LeMay Center Commander is the Air Force principal agent for Air Force doctrine and lessons learned, and provides input to joint doctrine. In this role, the LeMay Center ensures the development, promulgation, and teaching of doctrine as a common frame of reference and a starting point for the best way to employ airpower.
Doctrine captures operationally relevant best practices and establishes fundamental building blocks for how the Air Force operates, organizes, trains, and equips. It is an opportunity to educate, empower, and prepare for the future fight.
Changes to doctrine development and accessibility include:
- Relevant and readable doctrine focused on great power competition and emergent capabilities. The LeMay Center is accelerating doctrine reviews from the typical two-year cycle to a more periodic as-needed approach to keep pace with change. They are also reviewing more than 1,600 pages of doctrine to ensure they present a concise and coherent framework for the re-emergence of great power competition outlined in the National Security Strategy.
- A user-friendly doctrine website and publication format. The website (https://www.doctrine.af.mil/) includes user interface enhancements and graphical navigation. The publications are being renamed from "Annexes" to "Air Force Doctrine Publications," or AFDPs. This change aims to prepare for the release of AFDP 1 entitled "The Air Force," which will replace Doctrine Volume 1 and Volume 2. The format of the doctrine publications is changing a narrative .pdf format. This will enhance doctrine’s readability, portability, and search functions.
- The release of multi-media doctrine products on the doctrine website. The LeMay Center will provide multi-media products for doctrine education and awareness such as videos and audiobooks. As the pace of change increases, the LeMay Center will issue Doctrine Notes to address "emerging doctrine." These Doctrine Notes could evolve into a formal AFDP. An early example of this is AFDP 3-99, "The DAF Role in Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO)," which begins to codify the Air Force role in future conflict. A video, titled Joint All Domain Operations: Volume 1, accompanies this emerging doctrine publication. The LeMay Center is also working on doctrine for Agile Combat Employment and is continuing to mature JADO doctrine through a series of workshops called The Chennault Series.
These changes reflect a consolidation of the foundational doctrine of the Air Force and improved readability and retainability. The LeMay Center is moving out on the CSAF's "Action Order C: Competition" by improving all Airmen's understanding of their role in securing the nation through airpower, their role in the long-term strategic power competitions, and defining how our Service organizes, trains, and equips Airmen.