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Officials speak to Air Force future, challenges ahead

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. Armstrong and John Stuart
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Several Tinker and Air Force officials participated in the recent Oklahoma Aerospace Summit and Expo. Held June 1-4 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City, the event attracted hundreds of industry experts for briefings, seminars, panel discussions and networking. The ninth annual event also included a golf tournament and an exhibit hall, in which companies showed their goods and services.

Titled "Flight Plan of the Future," this year's summit included speeches by Debra Tune, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Installation, Environmental and Logistics in Washington, D.C.; Lt. Gen. David Deptula, deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at the U.S. Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; and Maj. Gen. David Gillett, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center commander.

"We cannot continue to focus the largest portion of our budget on sustainment so we must modernize to get increased capability, more reliability, and sustainability," said Ms. Tune in her June 2 briefing about Air Force priorities and the aerospace industry.

The average age of the Air Force operational fleet is almost 24 years old, Ms. Tune said. In 1967, the average age of the fleet was 8 years old, which equates to a 181-percent increase in age in 42 years.

Ms. Tune added reducing the Air Force's reliance on aviation fuel through efficient systems and processes can increase the service's ability to execute the mission while realigning resources to invest in aviation modernization.

The message from General Deptula June 3 was a mostly somber one for the audience, highlighting the growing threat to the U.S. military worldwide. Particularly, countries such as China and Russia pose a threat in their evolving fighter jet and long-range missile technologies. Both countries are developing fighter jet platforms that will challenge the F-22, as well as missile systems that could change U.S. military strategy.

These countries are exporting their technology to other nations, which further threatens U.S. operations worldwide, General Deptula said.

"We might not fight China or Russia, but we will fight their technologies that are exported around the world," he said.

Further, China's use of a missile to destroy a damaged state satellite in 2007 shows how the U.S. satellite array -- which is vital to military and commercial operations -- might be at risk in coming years.

"Space is no longer a sanctuary and our satellites are at risk," General Deptula said. "If key satellites are affected, we stand to lose command and control of the communications that are the backbone of our military and civil commercial operations."

The annual summit began as a partnership between Tinker, Rose State College, the Federal Aviation Administration's Mike Monroney Center and the State Chamber. The Oklahoma aerospace industry is accountable for more than 143,000 jobs in-state, which equates to a $5 billion annual payroll or roughly 10 percent of Oklahoma's economy.