CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – Air Force Special Operations Command hosted the annual Technology, Acquisition, Sustainment Review summit at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., Sept. 27-28, 2023.
The Honorable Andrew Hunter, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Air Force Materiel Command commander Gen. Duke Richardson, and other senior leaders from those organizations received briefings and demonstrations highlighting special operation forces capabilities at the 27th Special Operations Wing.
TASRs are Air Force-directed annual tri-chair summits designed to ensure AFMC is meeting warfighters’ needs. Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, Commander of AFSOC, facilitated the engagement to enable alignments at the strategic-enterprise level and ensure decisions are made regarding resource allocation agreed upon by Air Force senior leaders.
"We’ve got to get lighter and leaner for the future fight,” said Bauernfeind. “We need to accelerate concepts to see their capabilities, to see if they work.”
During the two-day summit, Cannon Air Commandos showcased AFSOC’s pathfinding legacy through operational capability demonstrations. TASR attendees saw how AFSOC techniques and equipment, like forward arming and refueling point teams and the Compact Loading Adapter and Wench System, are key to building a resilient and ready Air Commando force.
Attendees were also flown to Melrose Air Force Range on an MC-130J to observe the Adaptive Airborne Enterprise (A2E) concept, which expands the Air Force’s use of the MQ-9. Historically used to gather intelligence and as a precision strike platform, A2E will enable the MQ-9 to act as a node in distributed command and control, furthering AFSOC’s power projection capabilities.
While at MAFR, the 27th SOW Mission Sustainment Team demonstrated AFSOC’s ability to deploy scattered teams of cross-functional Airmen that are independent of main operating bases, enabling specialized airpower in contested strategic environments.
TASRs offer consistent, one-on-one, strategically tailored communications. The agendas are thoroughly mapped out months in advance so that specific concerns receive the attention they need from the Air Staff and AFMC.
For Bauernfeind, events like TASR give Air Commandos the opportunity to show Air Force senior leaders how AFSOC is rapidly pathfinding and adapting airpower to continue outpacing adversaries.
“This event put on by the 27 SOW was absolutely exceptional in showing AFMC and our mission partners what AFSOC can do and where we are headed. The current and future operating environments will be demanding, but we will succeed because of our competitive advantage…our Air Commandos.”