WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Gen Mike Minihan, Air Mobility Command commander, alongside Lt Gen David Tabor, U.S. Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, and Rear Admiral Derek Trinque, U.S. Transportation Command director of strategic plans, policy and logistics, testified in front of the House Armed Services subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, July 23, 2024, on connectivity of the USAF mobility fleet.
The hearing occurred exactly one year after Exercise Mobility Guardian 2023, which revealed a critical need for mobility connectivity in a contested environment.
“To date, AMC always responds to the call,” Minihan said in his written statement to the House Armed Forces Committee. “Focusing on developing AMC’s connectivity enables the Joint Force to act at tempo and scale, improving Joint Force survivability, meaningful maneuver, and lethality.”
On Monday, July 22, Minihan and CMSgt Jamie Newman, AMC command chief, also hosted a Congressional delegation aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker to demonstrate the capabilities and advantages line of site and beyond line of site communications could bring to the mobility fleet.
The Fairchild AFB KC-135, equipped with a Real-Time Information in the Cockpit data link system, was used during the demonstration showing the capabilities while refueling mission F-16s and a KC-46.
“RTIC provides interoperability through secure means between aircraft as well as between ground stations,” Capt. Robert Schaefer, a pilot assigned to the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron, explained. “It enables our tankers to act as more of a tactical data link node and it gives us, as aircrew, a lot more situational awareness.”
“Mission systems are needed on board AMC aircraft to integrate, interpret and present data to decision makers at the edge in a relevant way to empower those decision makers if, and when, disconnected,” Minihan wrote.
Soon after MG23, Minihan announced a new command initiative, 25×25, focused on the goal of connecting 25 percent of the fleet by 2025 in an effort to kick-start closing the gap prior to incorporating the rest into the normal budget cycle.
“Mobility Guardian 2023 highlighted the challenges we will experience while operating legacy equipment across vast distances without the necessary connectivity tools,” Minihan explained, “With connectivity, our air mobility enterprise will create synergistic effects for the Joint team, allowing them to sense, make sense, and maneuver at a tempo necessary to prevail.”
Air Mobility Command provides Rapid Global Mobility, and is globally relied upon to project, connect, maneuver and safeguard our Nation’s troops, their equipment and its citizens, whether it is to transport the wounded home, or sustain lethality for the Joint Force in competition, crisis, and conflict.
“Decades of low-intensity conflict and decades of under-investment in mobility connectivity have left our Air Mobility assets without the ability to tie into current Air Force and Joint battle networks.” said Minihan, “This has left our aircraft and our ground support systems blind to blue force movements and red force threats.”
The current Mobility Air Forces are the most relied upon force in the history of warfare, which requires the most connectivity, Minihan continued.
“We are running out of time and the need to act is even more urgent if we are going to be prepared when the Nation calls.” Minihan said, “Through tenacity, grit, and determination, Airmen routinely fill the gap between what they have and what they wish they had. Because of our Airmen, we are going to win. Our job is to make a fight unfair, and to give that Airman every tool and every advantage necessary to be successful.”
