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The Senate on Thursday confirmed the former commander of Air Combat Command to be the Air Force’s new senior officer.
Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach will succeed Gen. David Allvin, who unexpectedly announced plans in August to retire about halfway through the four-year tenure Air Force chiefs of staff typically serve.
Wilsbach commanded ACC, which oversees most of the Air Force’s fighter force, from February 2024 to August 2025.
Before Allvin’s surprise retirement, Wilsbach had been set to retire.
He is an experienced F-15, F-16 and F-22 fighter pilot with 71 combat missions enforcing the no-fly zone over Iraq and during Operation Enduring Freedom.
He also previously commanded Pacific Air Forces and served as deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea, giving him extensive experience in the Indo-Pacific region.
He takes over the Air Force as it works to overcome readiness challenges and to modernize its aging air fleet.
The Air Force’s average mission-capable rate was 67% in fiscal 2024, down from nearly 70% in 2023 and 71% in 2022, according to published reports.
Historically, the service has strived to reach mission-capable rates of 75 to 80% among individual aircraft types.
Wilsbach blamed a lack of spare parts for the decline during his Oct. 9 Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing.
“We have the people available to fix [the aircraft],” he said, “but they determine we need a part, and they turn around to the shelf to pull the part off the shelf, and it’s not there.”
Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn (Ret.), the NGAUS president said the association looks forward to working with Wilsbach.
“As the former commander of Air Combat Command, General Wilsbach is well aware that the Air National Guard provides 30% of the Air Force’s combat power with the oldest fighters in the Air Force inventory,” McGinn said.
In fact, without replacement aircraft, 11 Air Guard fighter units are at risk of losing their airframes and flying missions in the next five years, the NGAUS president added.
“Fighter recapitalization is absolutely critical for our national security,” McGinn said.
Fighter recapitalization is an association legislative priority.
—By John Goheen
