Gen Mike Minihan’s 2022 Air Mobility Command Strategy for Victory

The Air Mobility Command (AMC) Commander, Gen Mike Minihan, released the 2022 AMC Strategy at the Spring Phoenix Rally focusing the command on what is needed to win now and in the future. The four-page document promotes Warrior Heart culture, readying the Minds, Bodies, and Crafts of Mobility Airmen knowing that “victory will be delivered on the shoulders of MAF [Mobility Air Force] Airmen, and victory starts now,†wrote Minihan.

Minihan set the tone in his opening letter, empowering MAF Airmen and their families to be “biased toward action, unencumbered by bureaucracy, and intentionally disruptive of the status quo.†He identified four mission imperatives the Command will focus on to be ready for peer conflict: Global Command, Control, and Communications; Navigation; Enroute under Attack; and the Tempo Needed to Win.

Minihan structured the strategy around four vectors: Develop Ready Airmen and Families, Advance Warfighting Capabilities, Project and Connect the Joint Force, and Ensure Strategic Advantage. The following points summarize the four vectors.

VECTORS FOR PERSISTENT RAPID GLOBAL MOBILITY (RGM)

1. Develop Ready Airmen and Families

AMC will develop, manage, and sustain Airmen with strong tactical and technical competency, a warfighting spirit, a high level of discipline, innovative mindsets, and a driven bias toward action. AMC will provide unmatched service and support to Airmen and their Families to ensure readiness and resilience.

Major objectives:

• Orchestrate talent management and develop Airmen ready to compete, deter, and win.
• Deliberately strengthen AMC’s warfighting culture by reinforcing Airmen’s readiness, discipline, ethical leadership, professionalism, and Warrior Heart.
• Promote and recognize the value of tactical experts (for example, Weapons Officer) and special experiences.
• Advance a culture of care, support, and connectedness to strengthen Airmen and family resilience.
• Develop roadmaps for operational employment of multi-capable Airmen.

Advance Warfighting Capabilities

The Strategy says AMC must take full advantage of existing capabilities in mobility and Joint Forces while investing in cutting-edge warfighting capabilities that are integral to winning today and in the future.

Major objectives:

• Develop roadmaps to sustain, modernize, and recapitalize MAF weapon systems, the 618th Air Operations Center (618 AOC), and the Global Air Mobility Support System (GAMSS) for connected, survivable, and agile RGM operations anywhere, anytime.
• Increase GAMSS’ (both fixed and expeditionary) connectivity, agility, and resiliency to generate and sustain combat power to meet pacing threats.
• Improve command, control, and communication capabilities of MAF weapon systems, including 618 AOC and GAMSS, to achieve information and decision advantage.

Project and Connect the Joint Force

AMC projects, connects, maneuvers, and sustains the Joint Force in and through increasingly contested environments and domains. To achieve this objective, AMC will identify, generate, employ, and command and control MAF combat capabilities at the speed and scale required across all mission areas so the Joint Force can compete, deter, and win.

Major objectives:

• Increase the resiliency of MAF global operations to bolster Joint All Domain Operations (JADO) synergy and enable assured joint power projection.
• Advance Joint Force strategic and operational agility through flexible, scalable, and resilient MAF support of Adaptive Operations in Contested Environments.
• Develop and implement a MAF Force Generation Model that allows Total Force airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, and GAMSS units to support global requirements and achieve full-spectrum readiness objectives.

Ensure Strategic Advantage

RGM enables the United States to project, connect, maneuver, and sustain combat power for strategic advantage. Strategic deterrence plus global posture and reach enabled by allies and partners ensure strategic advantage.

Major objectives:

• Build capacity and strengthen enduring relationships with allies and partners to gain competitive advantage and deter adversaries.
• Improve readiness and agility of RGM forces and weapon systems to support strategic deterrence and nuclear response missions.
• Execute and provide command and control to presidential and national senior leader support missions.
• Develop, maintain, and expand GAMSS network access through allies and partners to sustain combat power projection for strategic advantage.

Minihan said he intends to win by providing unrivaled Rapid Global Mobility so the United States can fight anytime, anywhere despite restrictive fiscal challenges and tone-deaf processes and policies. Read the full Strategy at https://www.amc.af.mil/Portals/12/AMC Strategy cao March 2022/AMC Strategy 2022.pdf.