Beyond the Task Force Conops

The chief of staff has articulated a vision for the future of Air Force modernization planning, based on a family of effects- and capabilities-based "Task Force Concepts of Operations." The initiative is slowly gaining momentum as a new "Capabilities Review and Risk Assessment" process takes hold to link program and resource decisions to the desired operational capabilities. Despite the promising start, the new approach must likely be enhanced significantly if it is to evolve into an effective "control system" for modernization. The Air Force must cope with pressures and "boundary conditions" imposed by DoD's transformation priorities, joint architectures and interoperability policy, spiral acquisition policy, and some directed reorganizations.