Department of the Air Force

The mission of the Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests-to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace. Complex and unpredictable global threats emerge every day and the Air Force is postured to provide options for the defense of the nation by sustaining an agile, adaptable, persistent, lethal, and surge-ready air, space, and cyberspace force. Our persistent Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), global mobility, and rapid strike capabilities are critical to all joint operations. Our combat capability and peacetime efficiency will increase as we integrate our Active Duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve components into a Total Force. By focusing on our main priorities - winning the Global War on Terror, developing Airmen, and recapitalizing and modernizing the Total Force - we are prepared to face the challenges of today and the uncertainties of tomorrow.

The Department of the Air Force Vision goes from "Lasting Heritage to Limitless Horizons . Our Airmen, Our Air Force." The actions of our past Airmen and our lasting heritage show that Airmen have always been warfighters, innovators, and have had to constantly adapt to new operating environments. The actions of today's Airmen will take the Air Force to new and limitless horizons. That is our culture of innovation, because the technology utilized can only be as great as the Airmen that harness it.

Our culture dedicates efforts towards continuous improvement like Air Force Smart Operations 21 (AFSO21). AFSO21 shifts thinking towards examining processes for value-added tasks, maximizing value and minimizing waste. AFSO21 encourages Airmen to work smarter as effective and efficient thinkers delivering warfighting capabilities.

The Airmen of today should be inspired by the Air Force's past and continue to push forward to the future; to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests; and to fly and fight in the Air, Space, and Cyberspace.

Air Force Business Transformation Vision and Strategy

The Air Force business transformation vision is to create capabilities that provide rapid and predictive operational support and response through situationally-aware Commanders.

The corresponding Air Force business transformation strategy is to:

• Focus operational support on improving joint warfighter effectiveness by integrating high value operational threads across domains and across combat and non-combat functions.
• Set common goals and priorities across the operational support of the Air Force enterprise.
• Reengineer critical processes, identify and prioritize processes for improvement, and redesign them whenever they fall short of the immediate or long-term expectations.
• Move systems into a modern information framework. Leverage existing initiatives of the Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), while synchronizing and accelerating them to achieve transformation.
• Harvest resources to complete operational support transformation and support modernization of AF and joint capabilities.

Air Force Business Transformation Overview

High-level Air Force enterprise transformation goals are to:

• First, improve warfighter effectiveness by fashioning fast, flexible, agile, horizontally integrated processes and services that enable fast, flexible, agile and lethal combat forces.
• Second, establish a culture of continuous improvement to achieve increased efficiencies, allowing the return of resources. This would enable the recapitalization of the Air Force weapon systems and infrastructure, the return of Airmen to core missions, and the creation of an acquisition process unparalleled in the federal government.

To support these goals, the Air Force has set the following Transformation Priorities:

1. Synchronize the supply chain and installation management with operations - globally
2. Leverage the power of information to transform global operations
3. Improve operational capabilities through improved real-time Command and Control (C2), decision support and predictive analysis
4. Support our people -- our most important resource
5. Increase resources available for recapitalization
6. Provide accurate, reliable and timely financial information to support decision making
7. Optimize enterprise performance through transformation and continuous improvement across functional boundaries
8. Improve development and delivery of capabilities through disciplined and credible processes

Cases In Point:

Transformation in Action at the United States Air Force

USAF Diligence Yields Gains through Transformation

Nonappropriated Fund Transformation