Wild Blue Yonder

June 24, 2024
Robin Olds: Finding Guideposts for Mission Command

Is there value in scrutinizing the life of a revered hero?
June 17, 2024
USAF Execution of AE, Blood, & Class VIII Sustainment in a Contested INDOPACOM

Imagine an Airman presents on the battlefield in INDOPACOM with a significant limb injury and has profused a lot of blood. Alternatively, a field hospital in the Pacific received several trauma patients with critical injuries, and the hospital has limited supplies, only a small number of
June 10, 2024
USAF Mission Command: Cultural, Organizational and Operational Change to Meet Future Demands

The United States Air Force has adopted the Agile Combat Employment operating model that requires a Mission Command philosophy of command and control to be successful. Mission Command is viewed as a philosophy of leadership that would empower Airmen to operate in uncertain, complex, and
June 5, 2024
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of the United States Air Force

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing various aspects of 21st-century life, with the United States Air Force leveraging AI to enhance core missions like air superiority, intelligence, and global strike. While AI offers significant operational advantages, including increased
June 3, 2024
Planning to Fail: Operational Persistence through Mission Command

As described in AFDP 1-1, the principals of Mission Command should enable a substantial change in the Air Force’s planning and execution at the operation level of war: they should enable continued airpower effects if the Air Operations Center (AOC) disappears tomorrow – because it
May 27, 2024
Organizing for Mission Command

What's old is new again.Confronted with numerical inferiority, a contested electromagnetic spectrum, and the lack of safe havens, the USAF is returning to an old concept: mission command.[1] This philosophy envisions small units, operating under commander’s intent, that can maneuver and fight more
May 23, 2024
Congruent FMS and 10 USC 333 Strategy for USINDOPACOM

China is the pacing threat for the United States. While China has the advantage of proximity in the INDOPACOM AOR, they lack the greatest strength the US possesses, willing partners and allies. The United States must listen to our partners and allies in the region and equip and train them with the
May 20, 2024
Navigating New Frontiers: Japan's Expanding Role in Defense and Economic Security

During a recent seven-day tour of the United States, Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio reiterated his country’s pivotal international role, emphasizing in a speech before the U.S. Congress that Washington and Tokyo are “global partner[s] … on a spaceship called Freedom and Democracy.”[1]
April 30, 2024
Wild Blue Yonder on the Air - Ep. 27 - Military Mortuary Operations

Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency.Lt. Col. Nicole Farnham
April 4, 2024
The Strategic Advantage in Space. Who Has It?

Using their unique political and economic structures to justify their authoritarian regimes’ ceaseless pursuit of power, Russia and China believe that space dominance will guarantee the longevity of their respective nations. Both countries have, therefore, strategically put themselves in a position