The Air Force Acquisition Process and the Expeditionary Aerospace Force Challenge

The successful implementation of the Expeditionary Aerospace Force (EAF) concept is dependent on the Air Force (AF) acquisition process. The new AF Doctrine Document (AFDD 2, 28 September 1998) describes the concept of operations and the organization of the air expeditionary force structure. However, there is no specific direction delineating the responsibilities of the AF acquisition community for implementing this new concept. The current AF acquisition process was created to support a Cold War operational environment and is not optimally structured to acquire upgrades or maintain support to weapon systems employed by the EAF. The result is an inefficient acquisition process in the deployment and sustainment of these weapons systems, identified as key war winning operations in AFDD 2.