The Air Force announced its Force Design 2026 establishing a common direction for how the Total Air Force will prepare to generate and employ combat power in future conflict - particularly against increasingly capable adversaries operating in highly contested environments.
"Our Force Design is about the capabilities we will field that are necessary to fight and win in the future," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach.
The Force Design builds on the foundation established by One Force Design 2024, more sharply articulating the need for change, and the capabilities the Air Force needs to overcome the operational challenges of future high-end conflict where technology is at the center of that change.
Advances in sensing, networking, super intelligence, autonomy, unmanned systems, long-range weapons, electronic warfare and other technologies are changing the speed, scale and complexity of warfare. These advances are also changing how airpower must be generated and employed.
"We must evolve if we want to remain the world's best Air Force," said Lt. Gen. Chris Niemi, deputy chief of staff for Force Modernization and Chief Modernization Officer. "New technologies are enabling fantastic capabilities that were unimaginable just a few years ago, but those same technologies threaten some of the ways we have historically generated airpower."
The future Air Force is focused on generating sustained combat power under pressure, using a combination of human judgment, autonomous capabilities and interconnected systems to create resilient options across contested environments.
That requires looking beyond individual platforms and toward the systems that connect them. Aircraft, sensors, weapons, command and control, information and other capabilities must increasingly work together to generate effects, even when portions of the force are degraded or disrupted.
"The Force Design presents a fundamental shift in how the Air Force approaches future challenges in the Joint environment," Wilsbach said. "It will help Airmen understand how we plan to deliver combat power in the years to come."
