State of the Air Force
This transcript is made possible through the sponsorship of Schneider Electric
Maj. Gen. Doug Raaberg, USAF (Ret.):
Our next keynote speaker is a proven leader who embodies the integrity of the Air Force. General Dave
Allvin's experience as a test pilot in over 30 aircraft and leadership roles on the air and joint staffs in
Europe, the Middle East, and the Pentagon undoubtedly position him as the right leader to lead our
Airmen across the globe.
General Allvin stepped into the seat of chief of staff of the Air Force with a very clear vision. Now is the
time that we follow through and turn initiatives into results. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
welcome to the stage your 23rd Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General, Dave Allvin.
Gen. David W. Allvin:
Well, good morning. We're back again today, and it is a great day. Thanks again to the entire AFA team
for making this possible. This is a fantastic symposium. Everyone seems to get better. I'd like to echo
thanks to our secretary, Secretary Kendall, who has truly made One Team One Fight a reality, and to my
battle buddy Chance Saltzman. Salty knows his business, right?
That guy knows his business, and I couldn't have a better partner to be able to make the two services
one department work for our nation. So you see that on the slide there it says, "The State of the Air
Force," and that's what the block is. I feel like we talked about that a little bit yesterday on what we're
going to do.
What I'd like to spend a few moments today, if you'll indulge me, is to really take stock of where we are
in history and give you a few thoughts about where I believe we are and why we have that sense of
urgency and a sense of commitment to follow through. Since the dawn of air power, our proud heritage
in history has been intertwined with key events in combat that have shaped a battle, eventually a
nation, in some cases, the world.
Those are seminal events, and those seminal events get the headlines in history. They are studied. They
are celebrated. They are learned from. But to me, what's almost, and in some cases more important, are
the times that preceded them. These are times of consequence in my mind. These are times when
Airmen and air pioneers, they embodied what is running through our DNA, which is the spirit of
innovation, vision, and courage.
And the action of those Airmen in that time of consequence shaped those seminal events. April 18th,
1942. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle stands on the deck of the USS Hornet with 16 B-25s crouched
and a brave cadre of crew ready to undertake one of the most audacious missions in history 132 days
after Pearl Harbor was attacked and Imperial Japan felt as though they could conduct this war at a
distance and have the United States in a defensive crouch.
The idea here was to flip the script and to show that we could project power and a war that perhaps
thought could be fought at a distance could be brought right to their doorstep. This was a seminal event
in history, but to me, as interesting was the time of consequence that preceded it. Air pioneers like
Eugene Ely in 1911 who took his Curtiss push-plane and landed it [inaudible 00:04:14] of the USS
Pennsylvania.
It wasn't quite combat relevant at the time, but the very fact that it was demonstrated you could put an
aircraft on a ship sparked the imagination of those who followed, the vision of what could be. In the
1920s and the 1930s, members of the Air Corps Tactical School sought to draw lessons from air power
