Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day Two Highlights!

Photo of the Day:
In his conference addresses, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Welsh thanked the men and women of the Air Force -- in all positions -- for their dedication.

Gen Welsh and MSgt Toni Worthey, a noncommissioned officer in charge at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover AFB
Day 2 of the conference had about 35 sessions -- covering challenges for the industrial base, international air forces, STEM, energy, the Arab Springs, power projection in the Pacific, and so much more. We also held several Air Force heritage panels -- including airmen from the Korean War, Berlin Airlift and World War II. Below are a few recaps from our social media team.

Highlights of the day's sessions: 

General Officer Air Commandos talk basing plans and Irregular Warfare Wing

Air Force SOF generals to include AFSOC's commander Lt Gen Fiel described future planes and recapitalization road ahead. Specifically, M-28 Skytrucks are moving NSAv at Cannon to Duke field with 6th SOS. This will be the start of an Irregular Warfare Wing that will include Aviation Foreign Internal Defense (AvFID), communications, services, civil engineering, SERE, CCT packages. NSAv PC-12s will be converted to U-28s as well. Leaving the the c-146 (Dornier 328) will be the sole NSAv aircraft with a goal of 2-3 aircraft per Combatant Command.

AFSOC FY13 and beyond CENTCOM

General Fiel laid out his road ahead at an AFSOC panel. His top 5 priorities for FY13 are AC/MC130 Recapitalization, CV-22 to EUCOM, U-28, AC-130W, and AvFID. Pacific and Europe squadrons are going to be larger than in the past, specifically with 10-12 planes per squadron with respect to MC-130s. Even with this expansion of OCONUS assets AFSOC will continue to rely on big Air Force and big Army to be able to operate. 

Impact of Macroeconomic Forces & Fiscal Austerity on the Global Defense Industrial Base

The proposed FY13 Defense Budget does a reasonably good job of replenishing the industrial base says Dr. Nayantara Hensel, Professor of Industry and Business at ICAF. It does this buy cutting procurement by $3 billion and R&D by $500 million with total savings of $75 billion over 5 years. The US is currently the leading exporter of defense equiptment with a 30% share, Russia around 25%, and China with less than 5%. As countries implement austerity measures and cut defense budgets, external sales will continue to be important aspects of economic recovery. 

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