MICHAEL J. MAZARR, BETH GRILL, MAGGIE HABIB
The Department of the
Air Force and Integrated
Deterrence
T
he U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) outlines
major concepts intended to guide U.S. defense planning and investment for years to come.
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The most important of those concepts is integrated deterrence, which represents an effort
to improve warfighting effectiveness through greater integration and synergies both within
KEY FINDINGS
■ The Department of the Air Force’s (DAF’s) path toward enhancing combat capability
is aligned to the demands of the National Defense Strategy and integrated deter-
rence. Challenges identified in this research relate to the speed and depth of this plan, not
its essential direction or goal.
■ Although all DAF operational imperatives are relevant to enhancing combat credibility, the
following four capability areas are especially linked to integrated deterrence goals
and require closer collaboration with allies and partners: (1) sensing and find-fix-track
architectures; (2) medium- and long-range strikes, especially with systems capable of pen-
etrating denied environments; (3) a more resilient posture, especially in the Indo-Pacific; and
(4) more survivable and capable space capabilities.
■ A significant gap remains between the stated ambitions of the DAF to engage allies
and partners and the practical ability to do so. Barriers to such ambitions include a lack
of truly integrated strategies toward specific countries; limited efforts to engage a wide vari-
ety of such countries in DAF planning, modernization, and posture decisions from an early
stage; slow progress on better information-sharing; a continuing lack of effective command,
control, communications, computers (C4) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
(ISR) networks that can incorporate allied systems or capabilities; and the under-resourcing
of capabilities and personnel categories essential to allied and partner engagement.
■ The DAF could gain deterrent and warfighting advantage by intensifying efforts to
engage allies and partners in selected areas. Our analysis highlights seven such initia-
tives: (1) collaboration in munitions design, development, and production; (2) codevelopment
and coproduction of new systems; (3) ally and partner support for dispersed and resilient
basing; (4) creation of a unified DAF office to oversee ally and partner engagement; (5) accel-
erated plans to collaborate in space; (6) renewed investments in air and space advising capa-
bilities; and (7) an expanded role for Air National Guard and Reserve capabilities.
Research Report
