Enable breadcrumbs token at /includes/pageheader.html.twig

U.S. Air Force Advances Its Information Dominance

The service’s new organization takes further shape, with a new leader nominated.

Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, shown at the July 2024 Annual Life Cycle Industry Days, has been nominated for the rank of lieutenant general, and is slated to lead the Air Force’s new Information Dominance Systems Center. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Jim Varhegyi

The U.S. Air Force today announced the leader who will guide its new Air Force Information Dominance Systems Center (AFIDSC), offering a clearer vision of how the center will advance and oversee the service’s acquisition of multidomain operations and battle management.

Maj. Gen. Luke Cropsey will lead the AFIDSC, along with gaining his third star to become a lieutenant general, according to a December 4 announcement from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of President Joe Biden’s nomination of the general.

In addition, Gen. Cropsey will be dual-hatted as the Department of the Air Force Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management Program director.

Gen. Cropsey, who is the current U.S. Air Force Integrating Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management (C3BM), is a natural fit for the new role, said Maj. Gen. Genatempo, program executive officer for Cyber and Networks at Hanscom Air Force Base, during a presentation last month at AFCEA Alamo’s ACE conference.

The creation of AFIDSC, which will be under the Air Force Material Command, elevates the service’s cyber, electronic warfare, information systems, enterprise digital infrastructure and C3BM pursuits. The move is part of the Air Force’s answer to Great Power Competition.

The C3BM portfolio and Gen. Genatempo’s portfolio were revamped, a process completed this summer, said Gen. Genatempo.

AFIDSC will include four existing “information dominance” program executive offices pulled from AFMC’s Life Cycle Management Center: C3BM; Gen. Genatempo’s Cyber and Networks; Electronic Systems; and Business Enterprise Systems.

The Air Force is planning for the center to have 136 staff members, saying in November that “there will be minimal impact on the program offices designated to become part of this center, as personnel are expected to re-align in place.”

The DAF plans to officially stand up the new center in 2025. Hanscom was put forth as the only candidate to house AFIDSC.