At a minimum, the ad hoc committee will address the following 4 questions and make recommendations to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) and Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF) for improvement;
1. How can development planning be improved to help improve near-term acquisition decisions?
2. How can development planning be improved to help concepts not quite ready for acquisition become more mature, perhaps by identifying the need for more engineering analysis, hardware prototyping, etc.?
3. How can development planning be improved to enable the development of corporate strategic plans, such as science and technology investment roadmaps, Major Command capability roadmaps, workforce development plans, etc.?
4. How can development planning can be used to develop and train acquisition personnel?
In addition to specifically addressing and making recommendations to the four questions above, the committee should consider the following;
• Ensuring a development planning process must be strategic, driven by top-down SECAF/CSAF or corporate Air Force strategic plans and objectives.
• Ensuring a development planning process must be cross-domain and must consider joint capabilities.
• The appropriateness of existing development policies and processes in the Air Force and the Department of Defense.
• Results and impact of development planning activities conducted since the Air Force reinvigorated development planning.
• Appropriate case studies of potential development planning exemplars (e.g., Long Range Strike capability, technology, and acquisition planning).
• How development planning activities and processes should or could fit within Air Force capability planning processes, including Air Force Strategic Planning System and Core Function Master Plans.
• The Air Force’s organic capacity, in both manpower and expertise, to conduct development planning, in light of future budgetary constraints.
• The proper role of industry (prime contractors, sub-contractors, support contractors, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers) in conducting development planning during the pre-acquisition phase of the acquisition lifecycle.
• Preferred development planning inputs, activities, and outputs, to include the timing of those activities along the integrated defense acquisition, technology, and logistics life cycle.
• Identification of appropriate Air Force organizations responsible for conducting, funding, evaluating, approving, and utilizing the results of development planning activities.
• Incorporation of technology and the “ilities” to include: test; sustainment/ maintenance; affordability; environmental safety and occupational health; security; and human systems, considerations into the development planning process.
• Best practices in government or industry, to include the private sector that could be leveraged by the Air Force and Department of Defense development planning.
• Results of prototypes/pilots in the Air Force or Department of Defense as a result of the recent Air Force Studies Board report on capability planning and analysis for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and make recommendations to incorporate or change as appropriate.
• Interfaces with other Services and Agencies, and any supported/supporting relationships feeds the overarching corporate Joint processes for requirements and Department of Defense processes acquisition, cost and program evaluation, logistics and materiel readiness, and others as appropriate.
