The Air Force and Space Force have paused wide-ranging reorganization efforts aimed at becoming more competitive with China, with the delay allowing the next service secretary to weigh in on the plan.
A year ago, the Department of the Air Force unveiled a sweeping plan for the services to prepare for great power competition — defense-speak for new spending and strategies focused on adversaries such as Russia and China. There were 24 initiatives in total, mostly spearheaded by former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, an appointee under former President Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump’s new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered a pause of the reorganization plans last week, a Department of the Air Force spokesperson told Military.com.
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“On Feb. 6, the secretary of defense directed the Department of the Air Force to pause all planning actions connected to its Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition efforts,” an Air Force spokesperson said. “The planning pause remains in effect until a Senate-confirmed secretary and under secretary of the Air Force are in place and have the opportunity to review the initiatives.”
Military.com reported in September, prior to Trump’s election, that the Air Force efforts would face massive headwinds under the next administration, and researchers within the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog agency, expressed worries about the endeavor’s survival.
The pause does not require reversing actions that have already been taken by the Department of the Air Force, such as the service’s move to reestablish warrant officers for the first time in more than 60 years.
Experts like Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focused on defense strategy, budgeting and space policy, told Military.com in an interview Monday that it’s not surprising the Air Force is pausing the efforts in the wake of Kendall’s departure.
“It means it’s unlikely that this reorg would go forward. I think it’s the most likely outcome, when you halt it subject to a review and the main proponent of it is someone who left office and was from the previous administration,” Harrison said. “I think that just means it’s most likely this is going to revert to the way things were.”
Many of the efforts that will be paused were focused on acquisitions and reorganizing existing commands. That included the creation of an Integrated Capabilities Command and a Nuclear Systems Center, and elevating Air Forces Cyber to be a stand-alone command.
Harrison said it didn’t appear that military leadership had fully bought into those efforts. He added that the Trump administration has worked to rewrite many of the moves made by the previous leadership, including Kendall’s bold initiatives.
“I think it’s one of the things that the new administration seems to want to do, is to wipe out the legacy of the previous administration,” Harrison said. “This may be part of that, that they’re trying to kind of erase what [Kendall] did in his almost four years leading the department.”
Not all efforts under the reorganization effort will fall to the wayside.
A massive training event scheduled for summer 2025 called Exercise Resolute Force Pacific, or REFORPAC, “is not impacted by the secretary of defense’s recent order to temporarily pause planning,” Lt. Col. Karl Wiest, a spokesperson for Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, said in an emailed statement.
“This exercise, a first of its kind since the Cold War, is intended to test the Air Force’s ability to move large amounts of people, equipment and resources into the Pacific theater at speed and scale,” Wiest said. “REFORPAC is well-aligned with the Department of Defense’s priorities of enhancing warrior ethos and credible deterrence.”
It’s not clear when Trump’s pick to lead the Department of the Air Force will be confirmed. Last month, he named Troy Meink, currently the principal director of the National Reconnaissance Office and a former Air Force officer, as his choice.
Last week, Reuters reported that Meink arranged a multibillion-dollar contract award to favor Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2021.
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