Defense Disruptors Series: General CQ Brown and the Future of the US Air Force

The U.S. Department of Defense faces arguably its most difficult set of challenges since being formed in the wake of World War II. China is emerging as a peer military competitor with economic and technological strengths the Soviet Union never achieved while Russia is more belligerent than at any time since the Cold War. Iran or North Korea support attacks on their neighbors and stateless fighters wield cyber or electromagnetic weapons against U.S. allies and interests. The DoD is ill-prepared to address the scale and dynamism of these security threats. After driving technological innovation in the 20th Century, the Pentagon now lags commercial industry in developing and fielding new ideas. However, a new generation of defense leaders is attempting to create strategies, concepts, and capabilities to help the Pentagon regain an advantage in the 21st Century. The “Defense Disruptors” event series from the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology will host some of these leaders to discuss their plans and how they will handle the inevitable roadblocks and difficulties along the way.

Chief of Staff General C.Q. Brown is leading the U.S. Air Force through an era of generational change. Sophisticated manned and unmanned systems integrated by software are replacing Cold War mainstays like the A-10 tankbuster, F-22 fighter, and KC-10 tanker. As it navigates this transition, the service is also wrestling with an aging fleet, a competitive recruiting environment, and a rising China that threatens U.S. allies and contests the airspace hundreds of miles away. Please join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Dan Patt for a discussion with General Brown about the challenges of being a change agent in a period of uncertainty. This event will be live at Hudson Institute and streamed online.