AFMC commander outlines priorities during AEDC visit

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • Arnold Engineering Development Center/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  In an interview following a town hall meeting with members of the AEDC workforce, the commander of Air Force Materiel Command elaborated on some of the challenges facing the command and AEDC.

One of Gen. Donald Hoffman's goals for what he called his "immersion visit" to Arnold Air Force Base was to emphasize the command's five priorities. Rolled out at the AFMC Senior Leaders Conference at Robins AFB, Ga., in March, these priorities are: 

· Reinvigorate AFMC's role in the nuclear enterprise 
· Implement effective and efficient integrated life-cycle management to support the warfighter 
· Support the Air Force by recruiting, training, and retaining a high-performing workforce
· Nurture and protect the command's people and families 
· Be good stewards of government resources

Several of General Hoffman's comments and observations about AEDC during his visit related to these priorities.

"Right now, we're into a sustainment of the present legacy force," he said about the state of the nuclear enterprise.

According to the general, some components will have to be replaced because they will not make it to 2030. He said if the nuclear force were modernized, it would have to undergo rigorous testing. "We've got to know that the system works."

Referring to a moratorium on the ultimate test of the nuclear weapon, General Hoffman noted that much can be done through modeling and simulation, which means AEDC would have a significant role in any modernization of the nuclear force.

The general also noted the economic turmoil the nation is confronting, but said that regardless of whatever budgetary constraints may be necessary the Air Force still has a mission and the mission can't be accomplished without people.

"The Air Force and AFMC are hiring - not in every location, not in every skill set, but we need people," he explained. "I met a bunch of interns today, fresh out of local colleges and trade schools, all excited and pumped up. If opportunities here are limited, and they're willing to be mobile, there is local talent here that we'll take at other locations."

General Hoffman said it's important to fully hire to all the job authorizations in place right now and to be ready for the growth that he sees coming.

"The contract employees are really, in a broad sense, the Air Force's flexible force. There is a baseline workforce of civilians and military, but if mission requirements ramp up, it's easier to use that flexible force."

Since AEDC provides a unique opportunity to bring in commercial testing, General Hoffman elaborated on AEDC's role in achieving the Air Force's mission.

"I think it's vitally important. We can't just wait until the next Air Force test comes along and blow the cobwebs off of a test chamber, wind tunnel or whatever, run the test and then put it all back into a dormant status," he said. "We need a steady level of work, and with that work comes revenue to maintain a complex of this size. So we welcome that outside work as long as it's not interfering with what we have to do for the Air Force."

General Hoffman made a point of saying how impressed he is with the knowledge and dedication of AEDC's contractor work force.

"My take-away here is the professionalism of the workforce, its dedication to the mission. There's a unique synergistic relationship here among the government workforce - military and civilian - and contractor, to get a job done."