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In his most high-profile speech since becoming Air Force secretary in May, Troy Meink emphasized familiar themes — the necessity to modernize, the need to perfect readiness, and remaining focused on “taking care of our people.”
“We must do what we’ve done many times in the past — work to maintain air and space dominance,” Meink said in his keynote address to the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
The United States and its Air Force and Space Force are confronting determined adversaries today who have spent decades working to erode the United States’ advantages in air and space, he said.
While the U.S. remains superior, the gap has narrowed. China in particular “has been laser focused.”
“We have to innovate faster. … The only way we will be able to maintain our advantage is to innovate and we have to innovate faster than our adversaries,” Meink told Airmen, Guardians as well as officials from industry and Capitol Hill.
Part of successfully innovating, Meink said, is modernization. He pointed out that many of the aircraft being flown today are older than their pilots.
While the ability to keep planes and other aging equipment operating is impressive, he said, it is the reason the Department of the Air Force is undergoing what Meink said is the most aggressive modernization campaign in its 78-year history.
He name-checked some — the recently announced F-47 sixth-generation fighter, the in-service F-35A Lightning II, a fifth-generation fighter that is the backbone of the Air Force fleet, the F-15EX Eagle II, adding new engines and radar to the ageless B-52 Stratofortress bomber and continued development of the next-generation B-21 Raider bomber.
Additionally, Meink mentioned modernizing and upgrading the land-based nuclear leg with the Sentinel project, space control and moving to expand the ability to launch more satellites and equipment into space, continuing to develop the so-called Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which are uncrewed craft that perform a series of functions.
On readiness, Meink said he knew “there was a readiness challenge, I didn’t appreciate how significant that readiness challenge was.”
The Air Force’s aircraft readiness rates have trended downward for several years, and last year hit a recent low. The fiscal 2024 fleet-wide mission-capable rate — which measures how many aircraft are able to carry out their missions on an average day — hit 62%, meaning nearly four in every 10 aircraft were unable to perform their job at any given time.
Aircraft age is part of the problem, experts agree. Another, he said, is the availability and reliability of spare parts. “We have to fix that,” he added.
He highlighted five different aspects of readiness across the Department.
First the need to focus on systems and concepts that can survive in contested environments — showing a video of a Ukrainian low-cost quadcopter destroying a sophisticated Russian UAS.
Second, he highlighted the need to continue to push industry to improve the reliability of spare parts.
Next, he highlighted internal initiatives to better leverage the data available to improve both maintenance and operations.
Finally, he discussed installations across the Department.
“Our facilities are part of our weapon systems,” he said. In many cases, we fight from our facilities, both in the Air and Space Force side of the house.”
Meink’s final major focus is ensuring all Air Force and Space Force personnel are fulfilled both professionally and at home.
“People are the most important thing we have; the most critical,” he said. “We are asking them to maintain and work on some of the most technical systems … and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to support them.”
He ended with a challenge to the audience.
“The challenge is, how do we make sure [Airmen and Guardians] have the tools at the mass and scale they need to be successful. … If we, as leadership, are not doing everything we can to support you, moving fast and being innovative, then you need to tell us, because we will not be successful without that.”
—Based on Department of the Air Force release
