Air Force Doctrine Development and Education Center

LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education

Air Force Doctrine Center emblem
Active August 2007 - Present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Garrison/HQ Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

The Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education (LeMay Center), with headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, was a Direct Reporting Unit (DRU) to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. The unit, formerly known as the Air Force Doctrine Center (AFDC), was established on 24 February 1997 as a DRU, and is the single voice for all doctrinal matters within the United States Air Force and to the joint community. AFDC was inactived and its mission merged with the College for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education Center to form the LeMay Center under Air University in 2007. [1]

Contents

History

In August 1996, the Air Force Chief of Staff consolidated all Air Force doctrine development under a single authority, the Air Force Doctrine Center. To emphasize the importance of doctrinal issues, General Ronald E. Fogleman established AFDC as a direct reporting unit reporting directly to him. General Fogelman saw the growing importance of joint warfighting, the need to increase the Air Force's understanding of airpower doctrine, and the importance of a single and very clear voice for the Air Force on all doctrine matters. Major General Ronald E. Keys, the first AFDC commander, set up the new center at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, with several operating locations. He assumed command in February 1997 and produced Air Force Doctrine Document 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine, in September 1997.

Since its establishment, the center has developed over 33 doctrine documents that describe key warfighting, support, and organizational concepts for the employment of air, space, and cyberspace forces. The center has also been central in advocating the proper representation of airpower in joint exercises, wargames, and simulations.

Operations

The center researches, develops, and produces Air Force basic and operational doctrine, as well as joint and multinational doctrine. It coordinates with the major commands on their development of tactical doctrine, and assists other Services' doctrinal development efforts. The LeMay Center is responsible for reviewing the application of doctrine education in the continuum of education for all Air Force personnel, and is an advocate for the doctrinally correct representation of air, space, and cyberspace power in key Air Force, other Service, and joint exercises and experiments. The center participates in Air Force and other Services' joint wargames and key exercises to ensure scenarios provide a realistic depiction of the uses and impact of airpower. It also examines, explores, and advocates methods to better use modeling and simulation to support realistic training, exercises, and studies. The center provides research assistance to doctrine development and education, and collects and maintains inputs for Air Force "lessons learned" which arise from operations and exercises. The center participates in developing and investigating future operational concepts, technologies, and strategies.

Lineage and Honors

Major General David S. Fadok commands the LeMay Center. He is also the Vice Commander of Air University and reports directly to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force for matters pertaining to doctrine. The center has a staff of over 300 active-duty members, reservists, military civilians, and contractors. The organization consists of five directorates at the headquarters; an air staff liaison at the Pentagon; three operating locations at major Army training centers, and an operating location at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

Directorates and Operating Locations

The Doctrine Development Directorate researches, develops and produces Air Force basic and operational doctrine, as well as joint and multinational doctrine, spanning the full range of military operations. The directorate coordinates with the major commands on their development of tactical doctrine, and assists other Services' doctrinal development efforts. It conducts historical research to support doctrine development and service positions, and participates in developing and investigating future operational concepts, technologies, and strategies. The directorate also maintains awareness of future Air Force planning and establishes policy for executing the development of Air Force doctrine. The directorate consists of two subdirectorates: one that researches, produces, and disseminates Air Force doctrine, and one that represents the center and provides Air Force doctrinal advocacy in the joint arena. The latter also provides interface and liaison with other services' doctrine development activities and the Joint Warfighting Center, and participates in joint doctrine development.

The Warfighting Applications Directorate maintains a doctrinally smart wargaming staff to conduct Professional Military Education (PME) wargames for Air University along with Title 10 and other wargames for the Air Force, and to maintain a state-of-the-art wargaming facility. Wargaming is used at Air University (AU) as a means of applying and reinforcing strategic, operational and tactical doctrine-based warfighting principles taught in officer and enlisted PME programs. Wargaming at AU also supports scenarios with a broader joint focus that contribute to the Process of Accreditation of Joint Education requirements, as well as supporting several foreign partners with wargames tailored for their particular learning objectives. Our main focus is Educational Wargaming which is defined as a simulation, conducted to satisfy defined educational objectives, of a military operation involving two or more opposing forces using rules, data, and procedures designed to depict an actual or assumed real life situation.

The Warfighting Education Directorate advocates and deploys timely and focused airpower doctrine, and provides support to the CSAF Mentor program. The directorate develops and implements doctrine-specific education for Air Force senior officers and senior mentors, and develops and provides professional continuing education to selected Air Force warfighters in preparation for their participation in wargames and exercises. The directorate offers doctrine-based resident and online courses to address Warfighters' needs throughout their careers. It also manages and executes a doctrine education plan for all Air Force officers, enlisted, and civilian personnel and provides doctrinal basics to Air Force professional military education and accessions instructors and all Air Force instructors at sister service schools. As part of its doctrine outreach effort, the directorate provides speakers to lecture on doctrine related topics.

The Intelligence Directorate provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support and subject matter expertise for Air University (AU) and LeMay Center doctrine, education, and wargaming missions. It also operates the AU Special Security Office (SSO). The Director serves as the Senior Intelligence Officer for AU, and chairs the Intelligence Curriculum Committee as required. The Doctrine Division develops and coordinates Joint and Air Force ISR doctrine in support of the Doctrine Development Directorate. The Education Division prepares ISR curricula and provides instruction/expertise for AU across the joint air, space and cyberspace domains. The Wargaming Division provides scenarios, opposing forces expertise, and ISR education to wargames in support of the Warfighting Applications Directorate. The Security Division serves as the SSO, and manages the AU Sensitive Compartmented Information program.

The Joint And Air Staff Liaisons provide the connection between the center, the Joint Staff, the Air Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense on doctrine and related issues. They advocate the doctrinally correct representation of airpower in publications, models, and exercises, and oversees the Air and Joint Staff doctrine review processes. They are the conduit with congressional staff offices for the correct representation of aerospace power in national security matters. The liaisons also monitor the timely completion of all Air Staff and Joint Staff actions tasked to the center, formulate and implement policy related to Air Force terminology, and provide overall direction, management and implementation of the Air Force Military Terminology Standardization Program.

Stations

Army and Air Force operating locations provide U.S. Air Force representation to the activity assigned or attached on aerospace power doctrine, organization, mission, equipment capabilities, tactics and procedures. These locations advise the applicable commander and staff on all matters pertaining to the Air Force to include doctrine and concepts, and are responsible for the resident and non-resident instruction with associated instructional materials of Air Force doctrine, organization and concepts of operations.

The staff at the operating locations provides coordination, liaison, and technical expertise and ensures service interoperability by providing the Air Force position on joint warfighting programs. They coordinate on air support for training, exercises and demonstrations, and review joint Air Force/Army draft publications. They prepares articles on Air Force doctrine and issues for publication in Army journals and serve as the on-site, local liaison with Army Battle Labs, combat development agencies and other Army organizations.

Operating Locations:

References

External links