Abstract:The concept of "agile combat deployment" of the U.S. Air Force has attracted much attention since it was proposed, and in order to realize this concept, the U.S. Air Force has put forward the "multi-functional air force personnel" initiative, trying to improve combat capability through personnel training. On December 20, 2023, the RAND Corporation released a report titled "The Forces We Need: Cultivating Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel for Agile Combat Deployment", which provides a comprehensive introduction to the "Multi-Functional Air Force" initiative. This article is excerpted from the above report and mainly introduces the evolution and construction of multi-functional air force personnel.
Keywords: Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel, Agile Combat Deployment, U.S. Air Force, Training, Mission Pillars
The evolution of the multi-functional air force personnel
The Multi-Functional Air Force (MCA) initiative is designed to develop key personnel for the U.S. Air Force to achieve the Agile Combat Deployment (ACE) concept, so the initiative is inseparable from Agile Combat Deployment. The report argues that the threat to U.S. PACAF bases and U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) is increasing as other countries' conventional weapons systems advance, and that China, in particular, has made great strides in anti-access and area-denial capabilities, putting U.S. air bases at risk and hindering U.S. air force operations in armed conflict. To this end, the US Air Force responded in at least two main ways. The first is an intensified confrontation posture that allows the Air Force to operate outside its adversary's zone of use (or at least outside the most severe zone of the adversary's zone of use);
The U.S. Pacific Air Force validated the Agile Combat Deployment Concept in 2017 through a series of exercises, followed by the release of its first Agile Combat Employment Concept of Operations document in early 2018. The document envisages the establishment and use of multiple radial base clusters throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa followed suit, developing an improved version of the Agile Operational Deployment Concept based on different geographical constraints. Under the Agile Operational Deployment Concept, squads of air force personnel will travel to front-line air bases in difficult conditions to take off, recover, and maintain combat aircraft. After quickly completing a support mission at a specific location, these squads will travel to other air bases to evade concentrated strikes from adversaries.
The introduction of the agile combat deployment concept presented two distinct challenges for air force personnel. First, more air crews must operate deep into difficult forward positions with little external support and constant threat of enemy attack. Second, air personnel should minimize the likelihood of exposure at scattered air bases in order to reduce the risk of enemy strikes, while reducing the logistical burden and enabling rapid mobility.
Faced with these two challenges, the U.S. Air Force proposed a solution to develop multi-functional air force personnel. Early Agile Operational Deployment documents did not specifically mention multi-functional air personnel, but only laid out in general terms the need to enable agile air personnel squads through "cross-use training" (CUT). As a result, early in the development of the agile combat deployment concept, the U.S. Air Force leadership emphasized the need to develop and use a multi-functional air force, but lacked centralized guidance to actually implement it. By 2019, Air Forces in the Pacific, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, and Air Force Wings at the Air Operations Command (ACC) had begun developing local multi-functional air personnel training programs and experimenting with multi-functional air personnel concepts in local exercises without much guidance from Air Force I Command (MAJOM).
The August 2019 cross-MAJOM Air Force Agility Conference was an important turning point. This session was a lengthy discussion about the multi-qualified, multi-functional, or multi-skilled workforce that supports agile operational deployments. The meeting resulted in a Record of Agreement, signed by the Deputy Commanders of the Commands at all levels attending the meeting, designating the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center (USAFEC) as the primary responsible department for defining multi-qualification/agile operational deployment air personnel and creating a training program to certify or certify personnel performing tasks beyond the core of the Air Force Specialty (AFSC) to support agile operations. To accomplish this mission, the U.S. Air Force formed a task force, also known as the Tigers, which comprised experts from the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, the Air Force Education and Training Command (AETC), the Air Mobility Command (AMC), the Air Combat Command, the Pacific Air Force, and the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa. The working group defined the term "multi-functional air personnel" and published a white paper in late 2019 that proposed a definition of "multi-functional air personnel" and laid out the basic principles of the multi-functional air personnel initiative. The initiative remained generally active until the end of 2022. Subsequently, the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center released the Multi-Capable Airmen Training Syllabus for Agile Combat Employment in early 2020.
In March 2021, the U.S. Air Force Officers and Officers Steering Group (GOSG) reviewed the progress of the Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel Initiative and found that there was a significant lack of coordination and standardization across the various levels of command. Accordingly, the Air Force Commanders Steering Group instructed the first-level commands to institutionalize the multi-functional air personnel initiative and, in particular, to develop air standards for multi-functional air personnel missions, in line with the requirements of the Pacific Air Force and the United States Air Force in Europe and Africa. The Air Force Officers Guidance Group has also developed cross-use training guidelines across Air Force specialties. These inputs led the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center to convene a meeting in October 2021 for staff representatives from all levels of command and Air Force Headquarters on the theme of multi-functional air personnel. At the meeting, participants finalized the official definition of a multi-functional air force personnel to be included in the forthcoming Air Agile Operational Deployment Doctrine Notes, and more importantly, reached a cross-level command consensus on the Cross-Use Training Authorization Form (TOA) for Fighter Mission Generation (MG). The authorization form outlines the missions and Air Force specialties designated for cross-use training, so the authorization form actually accounts for the multiple capabilities of a multi-functional Air force personnel in a specific mission area as well. Although the initial authorization form was limited to fighter mission generation, templates were also provided for other aviation platform mission sets. Finally, in December 2021, the U.S. Air Force issued an Agile Operational Deployment Doctrine Annotation, which established a formal definition of multi-functional air force personnel under the broader agile operational deployment concept.
The structure of the multi-functional air force personnel
U.S. Air Force Doctrine Notes 1-21, "Agile Combat Deployment," define "versatile air personnel" as follows: Air personnel who have been trained in expeditionary skills and are capable of completing tasks outside of core Air Force specialties. Specifically, these personnel are often trained as a cross-functional team to provide combat support and logistical support to those who perform agile operations. Through cross-use training, they are able to act independently in an expeditionary environment and accomplish mission objectives within acceptable levels of risk.
In addition to describing the characteristics of multi-functional air force personnel, the definition also indicates how the Air Force will train and use these air force personnel. In particular, the development of multi-functional air force personnel involves two specialized areas, combat support and logistics support, which require both professional cross-use training and skills training required to operate independently in an expeditionary environment. These defining elements, in turn, are reflected in the basic structure of the Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel Initiative.
1. The level of training of multi-functional air force personnel
The Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel Initiative is structured around three levels of multi-functional Air Force personnel skill types and related training requirements. The first level skill is the expeditionary skill. Expeditionary skills are generally not classified as any Air Force specialty, but refer to any skills required by Air Force personnel to survive and operate in a difficult combat environment. For versatile air force personnel, these skills are beyond those covered by Basic Air Force Personnel Readiness (BAR) or Basic Deployment Readiness (BDR) training conducted under Air Force Directive (AFI) Section 10-405, "Expeditionary Readiness Training." Advanced expeditionary skills for multi-functional air personnel include weapons maintenance, tactical transfers, care of the combat wounded, land mobile radio use, and airlift cargo preparation. The U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center has developed and used a list of Expeditionary Skills Training Level I (EST) requirements and associated training programs, the latest version of which is available on the Air Force SharePoint site. The U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center also provides in-house training for a small number of Air Force personnel at its Expeditionary Operations School, but most of the training takes place within the local Air Wing.
Level 2 training for multi-functional air force personnel includes cross-career or cross-air specialized skills acquired through what the U.S. Air Force calls "cross-use training." Given that Expeditionary Skills Level 1 training is more widely applicable to Air Force specialized areas related to multi-functional Air Force personnel, it is largely unrelated to the Air Force specialty, while Level 2 training content will vary depending on the Air Force specialty. In other words, at least theoretically, the content of the second-level training is developed in accordance with the standardized content of the Air Force specialties related to multi-functional air force personnel, and the content of the second-level training is not the same depending on the air force specialty. As mentioned earlier, the Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel Authorization Form links different Air Force specialties to different secondary specialization skill set correspondences. The purpose of cross-use training is for Air Force personnel to learn and maintain a level of proficiency in skills, which are often in different areas of Air Force expertise. The assumption that one multi-functional air force personnel can replace several single-skill air personnel effectively reduces the possibility of air force personnel being exposed to various scattered locations of agile combat deployments. In addition to being conducive to reducing exposure, another important purpose of cross-use training is to enhance the resilience of multi-functional air crews in the event of casualties.
Finally, the Level 3 training for multi-functional air personnel covers a wide range of Air Force wings or theater-specific requirements. Level 1 and Level 2 training requirements are designed to standardize the skill set across Air Force wings and Level 1 commands, but the Air Force recognizes that each wing and every operational deployment is unique. As a result, the wings and the first-level commands can develop third-level training requirements that exceed the requirements for the first and second levels of training for multi-functional air personnel, in accordance with the Air Force Guidelines. Table 1 provides an overview of the training program for the three levels of multi-functional air personnel.
Table 1. Training hierarchy for multi-functional air force personnel
2. The task pillar of the multi-functional air force personnel
In addition to the three levels of training, the Multi-Functional Air Force Personnel Initiative is structured around three mission pillars, as shown in Figure 1. These three pillars roughly correspond to the three Air Force specialized clusters: Mission Generation, Command and Control (C2), and Base Operations Support (BOS). Combined, these pillars outline the professionalized skills required of Air Force personnel in an agile operational deployment environment, thereby defining the scope of Level 2 training (cross-use training) for multi-functional air personnel. In the first pillar, the mission generation personnel are responsible for takeoff, recovery, refueling, reloading, and repair of aircraft. Relevant career areas include aircraft maintenance, aircraft weapons systems, and air traffic control. In the second pillar, the Air Force Command and Control Staff (Command Post or Meteorological Officer) is responsible for aircraft intermodal transport, detection, communications, assessment and communication. In the third pillar, the Air Force personnel supporting the operation of the base are responsible for protecting, defending, shielding, maintaining the air base, and transporting the air base to ensure the smooth operation of air combat operations, which means that the air force personnel are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the base infrastructure, including the expeditionary infrastructure located at the radiation site of the agile combat deployment. The occupational areas involved include civil engineers, security forces, logistics personnel, ground fuel dispensers, and transport specialists.
Figure 1. Mission pillar structure for multi-functional air crews
In contrast to the current pillar structure, early iterations of the multi-functional air crew concept described multi-functional air personnel as air personnel with any two or all three of the mission generation, command and control, and base operations support skills. This skill overlap model (as shown in Figure 2) reflects a relatively broad range of cross-use training for multi-functional air crews. In a series of pilot exercises conducted in 2018, the Air Force demonstrated this breadth of skill by having a civil engineer in charge of aircraft sorties and retrieval of aircraft, as well as basic aircraft maintenance, in the hangar. An Air Force spokesman said the exercises demonstrated the capabilities of "a new type of air force personnel." Specifically, "the new type of Air Force personnel will be able to perform not only tasks within their area of responsibility, but also tasks outside their area of expertise." This makes the Air Force personnel more than just a maintenance worker or a member of the security forces, or even a civil engineer. They can play all three or more of these roles. ”
However, as the U.S. Air Force refined its approach to linking multi-functional air personnel to a single mission pillar, the concept of multi-functional air personnel that was derived from it abandoned the broad concept of cross-use training and related graphics. For example, the language used by stakeholders to talk about multi-functional air personnel has changed to "mission-generating multi-functional air personnel" or "base operations support multi-functional air personnel." This represents a subtle but crucial evolution of the thinking of the U.S. Air Force. As one Air Force official put it, "We've abandoned the idea of having a finance officer turn a wrench inside the hangar." However, stakeholders remain divided on how much cross-use training should be conducted across mission pillars.
Figure 2. An early version of the concept of a multi-functional air crew mission set
In June 2022, following important discussions between RAND researchers and Air Force stakeholders, Air Force Headquarters staff proposed an increase in the ranks of multi-functional Air Force personnel based on the idea that some multi-functional Air Force personnel have more skills than others. Specifically, the Air Force is considering a two- or three-stage model. In the two-tier model, multi-functional air personnel will be classified as either "agile multi-functional air personnel" or "agile operational deployment multi-functional air personnel", with the main difference between the two being that the latter has received more training in expeditionary skills level 1 and cross-use level 2 training. The first-level multi-functional air force personnel and the second-level multi-functional air force personnel in the third-level model are roughly equivalent to the "agile multi-functional air force personnel" and "agile combat deployment multi-functional air force personnel" in the second-level model, respectively. The third multi-functional air force personnel level in the three-level model is the zero-level multi-functional air force personnel. This level does not focus on specific expeditionary skills or cross-use, but rather emphasizes "multi-functional air force personnel education based on building mindsets" and is primarily aimed at cadets who are undergoing basic military training and technical training. Through these models, Air Force personnel envisage granting a Special Experience Identifier (SEI) to and only to "Agile Operational Deployment Multi-Functional Air Personnel" or "Air Force Personnel II", and that only Air personnel designated as "Agile Operational Deployment Multi-Functional Air Personnel" or "Level 2 Multi-Functional Air Personnel" will be able to perform tasks at forward positions in the Agile Operational Deployment Environment.
The formal classification of multi-functional air personnel stems from, at least in part, the recent move by the Air Force leadership to emphasize that the multi-functional air personnel initiative should be central to a broader cultural shift beyond the narrow operational focus of agile operational deployment. In May 2022, then-Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr. described the Multi-Functional Air Force Initiative as a "philosophy," noting that "the emergence of multi-functional Air Force personnel symbolizes a fundamental shift in the way we think, the way we fight, and the way we empower Air Force personnel." "Versatility" not only means the development of new skills, but also reflects a new mindset that has emerged as early as the basic military training stage. In fact, to some extent, "all Air Force personnel should be multifunctional Air Force personnel."