As China continues to make overtures toward a unification plan for Taiwan, the U.S. Air Force is set to rework its command structure and aircraft priorities, according to Politico.
The major overhaul comes only a few months after a Department of Defense report that cited China as “the only competitor with the intent, will and capability to reshape the international order.”
The proposal Air Force secretary Frank Kendall has been developing has been called “Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition.” Those who spoke with Politico were a Space Force official, three congressional aides, and two Air Force advisers. They were granted anonymity to discuss plans not yet made public.
The goal, they told Politico, is to streamline the Air Force’s top-heavy bureaucracy and meet China head on. The overhaul is said to reorganize how the Air Force plans, budgets, and designs new aircraft. Additionally, a focus on new uncrewed aircraft and fighter planes will be a top priority.
As the two-year war in Ukraine and the monthslong strikes by Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East have shown, drones are the aircraft du jour in modern warfare. Faster and infinitely cheaper to produce with no pilot training required, the ubiquity of drones forced the U.S. military brass to re-evaluate how command units should be structured, and what hardware to finance.
In the fall, China unveiled its KVD002 precision strike drone, a likely upgrade from its CH-4 predecessor which already had impressive capabilities with 30 hours of flight time, with the ability to carry nearly 750 pounds of weapons and equipment, including missiles, bombs, radars, cameras and civilian payloads. The DOD report noted that China has surpassed the U.S. and now has the largest navy in the world with more than 370 ships and submarines.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Wednesday that China is preparing to “wreak havoc” on U.S. infrastructure. China’s cyber threat follows a Nov. 15 meeting in San Francisco at which Chinese President Xi Jinping was candid with President Biden telling him that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China at an unspecified time.
The Air Force is expected to announce its plans on Feb. 12 at the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Colorado.
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