The Air Force is making progress toward the defense secretary's priorities, which will ultimately result in giving the president more options, said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin, who provided a keynote address yesterday at the 2025 Air and Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado.
Allvin mentioned those priorities — restoring the warrior ethos, reestablishing deterrence, meritocracy, reforming acquisition, passing an audit, matching threats to capabilities and defending the homeland — and how the Air Force is executing them.
Reviving the warrior ethos means letting every airman know what it means to fight as a unit, what's going to be expected of them, and focusing on the threat, he said.
"Your Air Force continues to kick butt. Our airmen are doing amazing things every day. They make it look just normal," he said, noting how airmen, along with allies and partners, controlled the skies over the Middle East and are increasing interoperability with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
Also, every day, airmen protect the skies over the homeland through exercises and nuclear deterrence, he said.
"We're a well-used Air Force, and we've been used well and used often. Every time we ask them to do more, they continue to do more," Allvin said.
Ensuring all of the service's investments increase combat readiness and effectiveness is now the focus, he said.
For example, the Air Force maintains excess infrastructure, approximately 20-30% too much, he said.
"All of that is not adding to combat capability. All of that is infrastructure that needs to be maintained, sustained, and doesn't necessarily provide more combat lethality," he said.
Greater lethality, he said, has been degraded by a drop in aircraft availability as the fleet ages and needs more maintenance. Also, weapon sustainment costs are growing, and the nuclear triad needs to finish its modernization efforts.
As threats continue to evolve, the Air Force is racing toward adding unmanned fighters to the fleet, training for human-machine integration and using autonomy more effectively, he said.
When the new Air Force secretary and undersecretary get confirmed, they will examine how effectively the force is executing the defense secretary's priorities, Allvin said.
"I have a hunch that when they see some of these things we're doing, we're going to be told to go faster," he added.
Lastly, he pointed out that "Americans keep signing up, saying they want to join the team. And the team that is the United States Air Force continues to be the best in the world. They show up every day. They do what they're asked. They do it with excellence. They do it in a way that makes us all proud."
The Air Force is ahead of its annual recruiting goal, with more recruits currently in the delayed entry program than at any point in nearly 10 years.