Secretary Frank Kendall: Implementing Change to Prevail in Great Power Competition

AFA Chair of the Board Brig. Gen. Bernie Skoch, USAF (Ret.):

And now it’s my great honor to introduce our first keynote speaker. At our Air Warfare Symposium just six months ago, he unveiled the biggest restructuring since the Cold War and sweeping plans to refocus the force. Along with that, he reiterated a stark warning, we are out of time. “For at least two decades,” he said, “China has been building a military threat designed to last for at least two decades.” He said, “China has been building a military that is designed and purpose built to defeat and deter the United States if we intervene in the Western Pacific. And though war is not inevitable, conflict could happen at any time. We must be ready.”

From his seven operational imperatives unveiled at this conference in 2022 to the 24 key decisions outlined in the Department of the Air Force’s Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition Plan, Secretary Frank Kendall remains committed to instilling a sense of urgency in the system that has not operated that way for many decades. Please welcome the 26th Secretary of the Air Force, a good friend of AFA, Frank Kendall.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall: 

Thank you, Bernie.

Good morning. China, China, China. I didn’t want to disappoint you. Thank you to the Air Force and Space Forces Association for organizing another important conference. Thank you as well for your leadership in advocating for a strong Air Force and Space Force to defend the nation and uphold our values and interests around the globe.

What I’d like to do this morning is to give you a progress report on some of our initiatives over the last three years, the period roughly in which I’ve been your Secretary of the Department of the Air Force. Just a few days ago, I put out a letter to the force marking my three years in office. In it I talked about our pacing challenge and the progress we’ve made to address it. Thanks largely to the efforts of everyone represented here at this conference, that progress has been considerable.

What I’m not doing today is a farewell address. We all know there is an election coming up in just a few weeks. Most of us expect it to be close. A number of people advised me not to mention the election. My response was, “Why not? Is it a secret?” It’s just a fact that we will have a new president on January 20th. We’re a democracy and this is what we do. We have elections and we pick new leadership. Not only that, it’s part of the Constitution that we all swore an oath to protect and defend. All political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president, myself included. I’ve been through several transitions during my career. Our ability to do this routinely and smoothly is something we should all celebrate as Americans. My hope is that I will have the opportunity to continue to serve, but if not, you can be certain that I will be working as hard as I can for as long as I can to prepare the Department of the Air Force for a conflict that is not inevitable but may be becoming more likely over time.

Before I provide that progress report, however, I’d like to do two other things. The first is to thank the other three members of the Department of the Air Force Senior Leadership Team for their leadership in moving the Department of the Air Force forward. The other is to provide some comments on the state of the world and the Air Force and Space Force’s role in that world.

For the last few months, the Department of the Air Force has benefited from the wisdom and judgment of which relatively new Under Secretary Melissa Dalton. Melissa brings an exceptional background as the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs in the OUSD Policy shop. She also served in the much broader role of Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Policy for approximately six months. Melissa has been a great addition to the team. Please give her a round of applause.

As only the second Chief of Space Operations, General Saltzman is at roughly the two-year point in his tenure. Salty can sometimes live up to his nickname, particularly when advocating for the Space Force, but that only demonstrates his commitment to growing the Space Force in all aspects, in size, in influence and in capability. Salty is totally committed to the success of the Space Force and to assuring that the nation has the Space Force it needs to succeed in an era of enduring competition. Please give Salty a round of applause.

General Allvin has been in the seat for roughly a year now, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, but we worked very closely when he was the Vice Chief for the previous two years. General Allvin’s commitment to following through on the initiatives we have put in place and his deep understanding of the changes we need to accelerate to win are enormously valuable to me as Secretary and to the nation. Please give Dave a round of applause.

There are many other extraordinary leaders in the Department of the Air Force at all levels. I’d like to give a shout-out to all the leaders that I’ve been privileged to work with and to learn from over the past three years. It’s a remarkable team. Thank you for all that you do to serve our great country.

Let me now spend a few minutes on the state of the world and the security risks that we face today and in the future. Every day I review intelligence on the range of potential threats that we and our partners face. The world is a dangerous place and becoming more so. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to take long trips to three regions of great importance to the United States and to our shared efforts to build a more stable and peaceful world, the Middle East, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific. In each, I met with both our Airmen and Guardians as well as high-level representatives of our allies and partners. We are fortunate to have so many partners who share our values and interests, many of whom are here with us today. Let’s give a round of applause for those people here.

We are stronger together and we must continue to stand alongside one another. First, the Middle East. Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a bloody and destructive conflict for almost a year. Houthis continue to attack shipping in the Red Sea and just this weekend struck Israel directly. Hezbollah and Israel exchange fire on almost a daily basis. Our bases in the region have endured limited attacks and we have suffered casualties. Iran has engaged in one large-scale attack on Israel that was unsuccessful, thanks in no small part to the defense provided by the U.S. Air Force and Space Force.

I visited the region two months after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel. It was clear to me that other nations in the region had no interest in being drawn into the conflict and neither did we. The efforts of our National Security team and our allies and partners across the world have been successful so far in limiting the scale of conflict. So far. That success has come as a direct consequence of U.S. military, including importantly, the U.S. Air Force presence throughout the region. This conflict has also come just as our partners in the region are moving forward with ambitious plans for a prosperous and peaceful Middle East. Our partners have increasingly shifted to regard Iran as their pacing challenge as opposed to Israel. It was this shift that motivated Hamas’ brutal attack and the desperate action of attacking Israel with hopes of stimulating a broader conflict. So far, again, their strategy has failed. So far.

One notable aspect of the Gaza conflict has been the strategic discipline exercised by the United States. Immediately after Hamas’ attack, we extended four fighter squadrons in the region. They were scheduled to rotate back to the U.S. That extension was short-lived, only a few weeks. Some of you may have been involved in it or affected by it. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General C. Q. Brown and [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin recognized that the benefit of prolonged presence was not worth its cost in readiness. Secretary Austin and General Brown remained focused on integrated deterrence and our pacing challenge in the Pacific, as do I.

Next, Europe. My recent trip to Europe served to demonstrate America’s commitment to our NATO allies, especially the three Baltic states which I visited, and to welcome Finland and Sweden to the alliance. My interactions with allies brought home for me their very real fear of Russia. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, their constant probing, hybrid warfare activities, and recently the reported efforts to develop a nuclear ASAT capability all are cause for concern. Russia is an acute threat for the Baltics, for Poland, and our newest NATO members, Finland and Sweden, and for all of NATO.

It has now been two and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war rages on with no end in sight. We all know the history. An unsuccessful Russian attempt to achieve a quick victory, the grinding warfare that followed, and now a surprise Ukrainian thrust into Russia. Regardless of when, if, or how this war ends, Russia is likely to remain an acute threat. But while Russia will be weakened from years of war, NATO will be even more resilient. Since the start of the war, NATO has become both larger and stronger, with far more members meeting the 2% of GDP defense spending target, and nearly all pledge to reach or exceed that level. We will continue to demonstrate American commitment and resolve, including American Air Force and Space Force deployments and partnerships in the region.

When I recently visited new NATO members, Sweden and Finland, I was impressed by how ready for conflict their Air Forces are. Both have responded to the proximity of the threat and the vulnerability of fixed main operating bases by adopting operational concepts that rely heavily on dispersion and concealment. They have equipped their forces, built the needed infrastructure, and trained routinely to implement these concepts. We can learn a lot from our new partners.

Sweden operates the Saab-built Gripen Fighter, which was designed for dispersed operations. Finland is acquiring the F-35A, and I asked them about their assessment of its compatibility with their operational concepts. They expressed their confidence that it could meet their needs. To put a punctuation mark on this, shortly after my visit, we landed two F-35A models from Lakenheath on roadways in Finland. We are already learning a lot from our new NATO partners. We are also deepening our partnerships and our traditional allies in Europe. To give just one example, last week we ratified an agreement to share the cost of integrating the Norwegian Joint Strike Missile on the F-35. This will significantly enhance our maritime strike capability in debt of our Norwegian, Canadian, and Australian allies and partners. This is integrated by design and action.

And finally, the Indo-Pacific. China continues to push boundaries of acceptable behavior with aggressive actions directed towards its neighbors. Most recently, we’ve seen Chinese vessels intentionally ram Philippine Coast Guard ships, and Chinese aircraft repeatedly violate Japanese airspace. The threat from China is increasing. I have instructed our briefers to stop referring to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army as a future or emerging or potential threat. I’ve been closely watching the evolution of its military for 15 years. China is not a future threat. China is a threat today.

The Chinese Communist Party continues to invest heavily in capabilities, organizations, and operational concepts designed specifically to defeat the ability of the United States and its allies to project power in the Western Pacific. China’s extensive and growing space order of battle, both targeting centers and counter space weapons, its massive inventory of weapons targeting our land and sea assets, especially air bases and aircraft carriers, and its increasingly sophisticated counter air capability all pose serious threats today. In addition, China continues to expand its nuclear forces and its ability to operate in cyberspace. We can expect all these trends to continue.

General Allvin and I traveled to the region last spring to visit ACE, Agile Combat Employment, locations, our units and our partners. Our partners in the region are uniformly concerned about the rising threat of China. Over the 15 years I’ve been traveling to the Indo-Pacific, I’ve seen a growing sense of concern and even alarm about Chinese capability and intentions. In addition to ratcheting up aggressive behavior in general, China is moving toward larger and more sophisticated exercises, generally oriented on an invasion or blockade of Taiwan. They have pre-prepared wartime stocks and have practiced nationwide mobilization.

I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is not. But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and will continue to do so. China’s building a military with a purpose to seize Taiwan and defeat the United States and its partners if we intervene. Xi Jinping has told his military to be ready by 2027. We don’t know his intent, but there is no question that China is preparing for conflict with the United States. To prevent conflict, we must be ready. To prevail in conflict, we must be ready.

I’d like to turn now to the things we have been doing for the past three years to be ready. I’ll start with an update on the operational imperatives and cross-cutting operational enablers. Almost exactly three years ago, we started the several-month effort to determine how we would modernize to achieve the operational imperatives. Teams co-led by operators and technologists came up with recommendations that totaled roughly a hundred billion dollars over the five-year budget. Of that number, about 40 billion was deemed essential to success. With the support of Secretary Austin, Deputy Secretary Hicks, and the Congress, we now have the first tranche of that funding in hand. There is another tranche in the FY25 budget, which we are anxious for the Congress to pass.

We were also able to start some projects with existing resources, in part by using the new Quick Start Authority that was provided by the Congress. Let me give you a quick run-through of where we are on each of the seven operational imperatives. First, the space order of battle. We started work on several distributed and resilient constellations to replace our vulnerable legacy systems and to acquire new capabilities needed for great power conflict. A distributed multi-orbit missile warning constellation is on contract and being fielded. A distributed tactical communications architecture is also on contract and also being fielded. The next tranche of capabilities will follow soon.

We have received Quick Start Authority to field additional low-cost GPS satellites to increase the resilience of the GPS system and have initiated that program. In the counterspace area, we are making good progress with a range of systems that at this point are still classified. Second on the list is command control, communications, and battle management. The Air Force and Space Force’s modernized C3 battle management systems are taking shape, and early components have achieved initial operational capability. Major General Cropsey and his team spearheading this effort have been in place for roughly two years now, and their impact is becoming more visible for both Air Force and Space Force advanced battle management.

The Secretary of Defense has recently designated the Department of the Air Force as the executive agent for the combatant command level Joint Fires Network, or JFN program. This recognizes both the progress we have made to date and the value of achieving integration of JFN and the DAF battle management system. As one of our Quick Start Authority initiatives, we have moved to accelerate C3 battle management for moving target indication to integrate central systems and for the processing of the targeting data that they generate at scale.

Speaking of targeting, we are making excellent progress on the third operational imperative, targeting against surface and air threats. Here, the Space Force and our intelligence community partners are collaborating closely. We have a great partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office, and we are working to ensure that space-based ground and surface moving target indication capability will meet both the intelligence community’s intelligence needs and the DOD’s operational needs.

For air moving target indication, we have made progress on an air platform and a nascent space-based solution. We have reached an agreement with Boeing on the E-7 program and that contract is underway. We are also exploring advanced technology AMTI capabilities in other ways and have initiated programs to field operational prototypes. While we are in the process of moving some sensing capabilities into space, we will always require a mix of airborne and space-based sensors to ensure resilience, maximize coverage, and present our adversaries with a more intractable problem.

Fourth, the next generation air dominance family of systems. The overall family of systems comprising collaborative combat aircraft, or CCAs, the NGAD platform, and other associated programs, is moving forward aggressively. We are going full speed ahead on the first increment of CCAs. Here at AFA, you’ll see full scale mock-ups for prototypes of the aircraft being designed and built by the winners of the initial CCA competition, Anduril and General Atomics. Both of these aircraft will be flying in the near future, and at least one of them will be in our inventory in meaningful numbers in the next few years. General Wilsbach and others will be talking about the CCA contribution to air superiority later in the conference.

The technology to support CCAs is maturing rapidly, as evidenced in part by my flight in an AI-controlled F-16 a few months ago. Just to be clear, there was also a very capable test pilot in that aircraft with me, but we did let the software fly the plane through about a dozen engagement scenarios, almost all of which were against another F-16. It was a pretty even fight.

As I expect everyone here knows, we are re-evaluating the NGAD platform design concept. The initial impetus for this was a concern over the affordability, both total program cost and high unit cost. As the Air Force Operational Committee looked at the design concept, which is essentially an F-22 replacement, concerns expanded to include the cost-effectiveness of the operational concept, the implications of changes in the threat, the evolving nature of the most stressing operational environments and scenarios we have to plan for, and the maturation of technology, including the introduction of CCAs.

We plan to move quickly to conduct the assessment for a variety of reasons, including industrial base impacts and the fact that both the FY25 and FY26 budgets still have to be finalized. But if we are ever going to make a change in the NGAD platform’s requirements, now is the time to do so, before the next major contractual commitment and the commitment to proceed towards production. One thing I would like to make very clear, we are not walking away from the core United States Air Force function of providing air superiority. I’ll say that again. We are not walking away from the core United States Air Force function of providing air superiority.

Thank you.

We are looking at what we need in order to achieve air superiority in a manner consistent with the increased threat, the changing character of war, in the most cost and combat effective way.

Our fifth operational imperative is all about forward air base resilience. Our resilience is increasing as we speak. This operational imperative is less dependent on technology maturation or research and development activities. It was one area in which we could move quickly to resource the Agile Combat Employment concept.

General Allvin and I, as I mentioned, visited some of the locations we are investing in just last spring, and work is well underway. Going forward, we need to resource additional locations and acquire pre-positioned and more mobile support equipment, but this work is well begun and expanding. One element that we need to make more progress on if we are to succeed is active air defense against the full range of threats, cruise, ballistic, hypersonic, and air breathing. This is a joint responsibility we have been studying with our Army colleagues that we hope to see addressed as we plan the FY26 budget.

The sixth imperative is global strike family of systems. This is proceeding well. I always caution senior leaders to not express too much optimism about any program in development, and I would say this about the B-21 family of systems as well. There are still risks to burn down both with the B-21 itself and the other classified elements of the global strike family of systems, but the progress to date is encouraging. The Chinese expansion of its nuclear arsenal has reinforced the importance of the strategic triad. Both the B-21 and the Sentinel Program are essential contributors to our strategic deterrent.

The final operational imperative is to address the risk of all the systems and facilities the Air Force and Space Force count on to mobilize, support deployments, and conduct combat operations. For the most part, this is about cybersecurity of everything from logistic systems that support maintenance and transportation, to the supply chains we depend upon, to the electrical power grid and critical infrastructure that supports our bases. We have made progress in addressing these concerns but are limited by funding for systems we cannot control and by the lack of direct control for non-defense, civil, and commercial systems.

In addition to the operational period of modernization efforts, we identified four cross-cutting operational enablers, mobility, electronic warfare, munitions, and training and testing. These are all works in progress. I’d like to highlight two in particular this morning, mobility and electronic warfare. During my tenure, we’ve gone through an evolution in our strategy to recapitalize the tanker fleet. The threat is now reaching out to longer and longer ranges. That puts both tanker and transport aircraft at risk over ever-increasing ranges. This is a particular problem for aerial refueling of fighters within their combat radius ranges.

Almost two years ago, we started an analysis of alternatives for what we now call NGAS, the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System. We are about to complete that analysis and we are folding that work into our reconsideration of both the NGAD platform and the next increment of CCAs. Late last week, we issued an RFI to industry seeking input on mission systems for NGAS and potentially for the rest of the tanker fleet as well. This is the first step in establishing competitive vendor pools that will evaluate and enable new approaches to refueling the joint force. Our intent is to have simultaneous and well-supported answers about the design concepts for NGAD, NGAS, and CCA Increment 2 over the next few months. We have a strong sense of urgency here. Our analysis must be adequate to support major decisions and to help us align our requirements, our acquisition strategies, and funding for these three programs. We are working closely with the OUSD staff, including the CAPE and others, as we proceed through this analysis. Stand by for answers in the next few months.

We started looking closely at electronic warfare for several reasons. First of all, we found it was a key enabler in almost every one of our operational imperatives. Second, most of our electronic warfare programs are platform-centric, so there wasn’t a unifying focus on this area as a whole. My own experience suggested that this is a historically neglected area that can have oversized impact but doesn’t compete well in our internal budget battles relative to other priorities. We established a cross-cutting operational enabler study in this area to try to bring more focus and conscious consideration to electronic warfare. The role and prominence of electronic warfare in the war in Ukraine provided additional incentives. What the team discovered was incredibly important. We believe we can counter advanced adversary kill webs by integrating a combination of electronic warfare tools, operationalized cyber capability, and other elements. I’m excited to see us making fast progress on this mission area for the Department of the Air Force.

Let me turn now to our efforts to re-optimize for great power competition, things that we announced last February at the February AFA Conference. The short version of our progress on the 24 decisions that we announced is that all the actions required are well underway. A few are slightly behind their original schedule, but overall progress is excellent, and nothing is far enough off track to cause major concern. The Congress directed that we provide 30 days’ notice before implementing any major decisions, and we’ve worked closely with the Congress to provide those notifications and to ensure there was no opposition to the changes we intended.

I’ll briefly touch on the three decisions that relate to the Secretariat, and General Saltzman and General Allvin will talk about the implementation of the service-specific decisions. The four members of the Department of the Air Force Senior Leadership Team meet monthly to review the progress on all 24 decisions and on others we’ve since added to the list. My overall guidance is that we need to move at the speed of leadership, not the speed of bureaucracy. What that means in practice is that any concerns or issues are elevated quickly to the senior leaders so they can be resolved. To be blunt, we don’t have the time for petty parochial interest or arguments about turf.

Then the Secretariat, the three new offices will report to the senior leadership team, nominally to myself and the undersecretary, but in practice to all four of us. One team, one fight. Two of the three are established and the third will activate as soon as leadership is identified, and we’re in the process of conducting interviews for that leadership now. First, the Integrated Capability Office will be a small but critical organization to perpetuate work like the operational imperatives. They will directly advise me and the leadership team on our integrated modernization programs. While the operational imperative work has been highly successful, it was a pickup game played by ad hoc teams organized for the purpose. I brought on Tim Grayson from DARPA to lead a small team to help organize and facilitate this work.

Now, so that you know, Tim did his absolute best to excise the next few lines from my speech. Sorry, Tim. I’m still in charge.

Tim has been some combination of the DAF’s chief engineer, chief systems engineer, chief technologist and chief architect. He has a job I would most like to have probably. He has been essentially my agent to pull modernization efforts together and to help the Department of the Air Force and the senior leadership team make decisions about the maturity and risk of various concepts and programs. We couldn’t be where we are on the operational imperatives and the cross-cutting operational enablers without Tim’s technical expertise and leadership. Let’s give Tim, his team, and the great teams he’s been leading a big round of applause.

Tim promised me two years when he came on board, and we’re closing in on three, for which I’m very grateful. As one of his final contributions before he leaves us, he and a small but dedicated team of Department of the Air Force Military and Civilians have gotten the Integrated Capability Office fully established and running forward into the next budget cycle. To keep this momentum going forward, we’re bringing Eliahu Niewood on board from MITRE in early October as the Inaugural Integrated Capabilities Office Director.

Next, we have established the Competitive Activities Office led by Ed Oshiba. While I can’t go into great detail, Ed and his office will also act as agents for the senior leadership team focused on sensitive activities that will include special access programs and special activities that the Department of the Air Force manages for partner organizations across the Department of Defense and the whole of the U.S. government.

Finally, we have the new Program Analysis and Evaluation Office being set up in the Secretariat. This organization will support the senior leadership team as we conduct strategic planning, balance risk across the various DAF portfolios, and will act as our collaborative agent with OUSD, especially CAPE, the organization formerly known as DOD-PA&E. As we proceed through the annual programming and budgeting review process, this will be an invaluable office for us. DAF PA&E will work closely with our established financial management and air and space staff programming teams as it does its work. We’ve identified some great candidates to lead this new organization, and should be able to make an announcement soon.

For an update on the other GP sessions, I’ll leave it to General Allvin, who will follow me today, and General Saltzman, who will speak tomorrow, to update on the service-specific changes they are leading.

I would be remiss indeed if I didn’t highlight our most critical asset, our people. You are simply awesome. You make me grateful to be part of this team every single day. One of the highlights of this job is getting to meet Airmen and Guardians stationed around the world. I visited over 50 different major Department of the Air Force installations in my time as Secretary. At every one I’ve seen passion, ingenuity, and excellence even in hard situations. Earlier I mentioned recent trips I’ve taken to the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and Europe. In the Middle East our Airmen and Guardians are shooting down Iranian drones and Houthi missiles. In Europe our Airmen and Guardians are building partnerships and demonstrating resolve, keeping NATO’s deterrents strong. In the Indo-Pacific, our Airmen and Guardians are at the vanguard of a new way to compete with the toughest competitor we have ever faced. No matter where you are, our Airmen and Guardians are a competitive advantage.

I give out a lot of coins to outstanding performance on these trips. I always spend a few minutes finding out more specifics about our Airmen and Guardians and the work they do, the problems they’re solving, and the things that we can do to make it easier for them to succeed. All of these conversations are inspirational to me, make me proud to be part of this organization. All the members of our total force, active, reserve, guard, civilian, make a major contribution to the safety and security of the American people and are preserving our values in a free world. Your families support you and make significant sacrifice for you and our country. You deserve the best quality of life that we can provide.

During the last three years, we have worked to address a wide range of issues that affect your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Secretary Austin has worked closely with service leadership to improve the quality of your lives through a series of major initiatives, including the steps that he announced with the First Lady last Friday. The Department of the Air Force has often led the way in addressing issues like housing, education, disparity, physical and mental health, the stress of deployments, frequent moves, and the many other invisible burdens of military service. We’ve taken on hard issues, suicide, discrimination, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and more. As hard as we’ve worked to address these issues, we know there is more to be done, and there is still plenty of room for improvement. I urge you to speak up today. During this conference, we will have panels on many of these issues. I urge you to speak up about problems you have experienced and solutions we might implement. Let’s continue to move forward together, one team, one fight.

I’m going to wrap up this morning with a few words about the subject that I worry about the most, the adequacy of our resources. I’m very grateful for the support the Department of the Air Force has received over the last three years from Deputy Secretary Hicks, Secretary Austin and from President Biden. In the first two budgets of my tenure, FY23 and 24, Department of the Air Force receive significant increases in the President’s budget. In the FY25 budget submission we were constrained by the two-year budget agreement negotiated by the Congress and the President, but we have adequate funds to move forward if the President’s budget is enacted, which I’m confident it will be, hopefully on time. We also have good support from Congress with the exception of reluctance to allow some aircraft divestitures and the damaging implications of continuing resolutions, particularly a long period of continuing resolution such as we experienced in FY24. Secretary Austin has made it clear how such a delay with funding would impact FY25 and the consequences it would have for our national security.

As I look at our needs going forward, it’s clear to me that more resources will be required. The Space Force is beginning a transformation that must be executed quickly and at scale. That takes resources. The Air Force must move to a new generation of more competitive capabilities as quickly as possible. That takes resources. We do not have a shortage of innovation. We know what we need to do. We do not have a fundamental problem with how we acquire it. We bring in technologies from many sources. We tailor our acquisition techniques consistent with risk and operational urgency. 50 years of experience and hard work has taught me that there is no magic way for us to plan programs or write contracts that will achieve miracles in defense acquisition. We’ve certainly tried often enough.

If we spend our time, energy, and effort looking in those directions to solve our problems, we will make a fundamental mistake. We will obscure the fact that more will fundamentally cost more. The old adage that there is no free lunch is directly applicable. My promise to you is that I will spend whatever time I have left in public service, working as hard as I can to get the Department of the Air Force the resources that it needs to be successful and to successfully deter our adversaries, and if needed, to achieve victory. Thank you for your service and your support. God bless you and all our Airmen and Guardians and their families. One team, one fight. Thank you.

AFA Chair of the Board Brig. Gen. Bernie Skoch:

Thank you, Secretary Kendall.