Episode Summary

In episode 26 of the Aerospace Advantage: Producing an Agile Air Force: The Case for Change, Heather Penney explains why the Air Force is the oldest and smallest that it has ever been. For decades, the service has been unable to effectively transform and scale its force design into one that is positioned to meet the nation’s future security needs. The problem isn’t simply budget. Decades of acquisition behavior have decreased competition, forcing the defense industry to consolidate, focus on system integration, and shift profit centers away from innovation and production and towards sustainment. This episode explores how the Air Force can rejuvenate the aerospace industrial base to achieve a force that can innovatively outpace peer adversaries.

Credits

Host:  Lt Col John “Slick” Baum, USAF, ret.

Producer: Daniel C. Rice

Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey

Guest: Maj (ret.) Heather “Lucky” Penney, Senior Fellow, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies

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Credits