Every service has faced changes brought about by new technologies and new missions, but the Air Force is wrestling with nothing less than a total overhaul of its structure and activities. Its legacy mission was fairly clear-cut: maintain air superiority and provide support to ground forces where needed. But now, experts are building a new force of unmanned combat air vehicles that vie in importance with piloted craft. And, the Global War on Terrorism and the information technology revolution have struck at the very heart of the Air Force’s raison d’etre. SIGNAL takes a look at how the Air Force is changing to meet its new roles and which technologies might play a major role in them.

The Air Force leads the military in speed of force over great distances, and maintaining command and control of that force is a challenge that is becoming more complex with technology innovations. Leading off this focus report is Air Force Morphs Command and Control, an article on how the Air Force is doing more than modernizing its command and control—it is restructuring it to suit its new responsibilities while it incorporates some of the most modern information technologies.

A number of those information technologies come under the eye of Executive Editor Maryann Lawlor. She writes about a new beyond-line-of-sight capability that is being incorporated aboard E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft. This technology is changing the way the Air Force moves information across its networks, she reports in Information Sharing Flies High.

Moving information across Air Force networks is the topic of an article by News Editor Rita Boland. She reports on how the U.S. Air Forces Northern Distributed Mission Operations program is conducting individualized warfighter training from various locations simultaneously. Network Offers Top-Notch Training to More for Less describes how diverse components can practice homeland security missions through the distributed training network.

Still up in the air, but operating in a joint mode, is the topic of Multipurpose Missile Program Accelerates, by Business Editor Henry S. Kenyon. He writes about a new smart air-to-ground missile that can be carried on several different types of U.S. aircraft, both fixed- and rotary-wing. His page 33 article looks at how this joint missile would replace as many as three different missiles in the existing U.S. arsenal.

The U.S. Air Force is redoubling its efforts to reach out to small businesses. David Van Buren, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, and Ronald Poussard, director of the service’s small business programs, explain that this effort seeks to remove the “check-the-box” mentality often associated with small business outreach. Innovation, agility, responsiveness and efficiency are some of the attributes small companies offer, but Van Buren also says, “We don’t have enough competition now. Growing these innovative small businesses will help us rectify that by increasing the industrial base.” The service plans to enhance its relationship with small businesses by helping them move into the more mature states of development and production.

U.S. Air Force officials named Barksdale Air Force Base as the preferred alternative for the location of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) headquarters. The AFGSC is a new major command focused on the nuclear and global strike mission. A final decision about the permanent headquarters location is expected this summer and will be made after the environmental impact analysis process required by law is complete. The selection of Barksdale was based on the base’s ability to provide nuclear mission synergy as well as its facilities and infrastructure, support capacity, transportation and access, communications and bandwidth, and security capabilities

A U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is part of the joint mission of the U.S. Air Force 380th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia. The new role marks the first operational mission for the BAMS UAS—a maritime derivative of the RQ-4 Global Hawk—although the aircraft has been used in noncombat roles.

BAMS’ arrival in Southwest Asia is the culmination of more than five months of a joint effort to stand up a maritime surveillance presence in the region. The move came when Navy officials responded to a Defense Department request for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in the area.

Air Force personnel will control the system at the forward operating location, and Air Force instructors will train naval aviators. Experts from both military services have come together to create a process to ensure that differences in operational and maintenance rules and standards are identified and resolved quickly.

The U.S. Air Force has created a new Air Staff directorate—aligned as A10—to strengthen the focus on nuclear enterprise. The Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Office began operations on November 1. The directorate is the second organizational change officials have implemented to improve nuclear focus. The first involved consolidating nuclear sustainment responsibility in the Air Force Materiel Command at the Nuclear Weapons Center. The Air Force also announced plans for a nuclear-only major command called Air Force Global Strike Command as its future field-operating construct for the nuclear enterprise.