JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – After a highly successful inaugural event last spring, organizers are looking forward to hosting the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center’s Second Annual Installation and Mission Support Weapons and Tactics Conference May 6-16 in San Antonio.
I-WEPTAC is modeled after the annual Air Combat Command WEPTAC but with a focus on agile combat support core functions. It begins with a set of four Mission Area Working Groups focused on developing courses of action for challenges facing the ACS community and culminates with a May 16 out-brief to leaders from across the Air Force enterprise and San Antonio-based Airmen.
“The core of I-WEPTAC is innovation. It provides both a forum for Warfighter innovation and a process to quickly turn ideas into capability,” said Maj. Gen. Brad Spacy, AFIMSC commander. “This innovative agility is key to staying out in front of the threats.”
Related events the week of May 14 include a mission support leadership summit, general officer-senior executive service summit, and industry and legacy days.
I-WEPTAC organizers hope to capitalize on the momentum gained from the extraordinary work the Airmen who comprised the four Mission Area Working Groups accomplished in 2017, said Maj. Derrick Hodges, director of operations and safety for Air Force aero clubs and “ground boss” for the event.
In 2017, the conference focused on challenges in adaptive basing construct; sustainment and reconstitution in Anti-Access/Area Denial; expeditionary Airmen of the future (cross-functional training); and detecting and defeating the unmanned aerial vehicle threat to installations.
“Last year we took I-WEPTAC recommendations from idea to proof of concept in a matter of months -- that is agility and that is critical to lethality!” Spacy said.
With the theme “Bridging the Gap – Multi-domain Combat Support,” this year’s MAWG topics are Installation Investment Initiative 2035; multi-domain tactical ACS command and control in A2/AD environment; critical base resiliency capabilities for the A2/AD environment; and integrating new agile unit type codes into a combat support wing construct.
“I-WEPTAC is aimed at filling the holes in our strategic plans, or better yet, bridging the gap,” Hodges said. “We fight in a multi-domain space and we must be prepared to provide support in a multi-domain capacity.”
The most important aspect of I-WEPTAC is the platform it provides for collaboration among innovative-minded Airmen from across the Air Force to provide solutions to challenges in support of the warfighter, said Lt. Col. Steve Thomas, chief of AFIMSC’s plans and analysis division and I-WEPTAC chairman.
MAWG Airmen held their initial meetings the week of Jan. 29 at AFIMSC headquarters and will work on their courses of action through the first week of I-WEPTAC in May.
“By bringing these people together in one forum, we’re able to dedicate focused effort on truly revolutionary ideas and concepts, develop them with rigor and present them in a manner that enables our senior leaders to make decisions on the spot,” Thomas said.
From its inception, I-WEPTAC has established a real-time dialogue across major commands and core function leads to inform potential strategy and resourcing recommendations, he added.
“I-WEPTAC sits at the cutting edge of our enterprise,” Thomas said. “All members of AFIMSC – military and civilian – are vital to supporting the warfighter on a daily basis and must understand what our force is driving toward in the future.”
The annual event capitalizes on the extensive experience of AFIMSC’s civilian workforce and relies on them to stabilize the organization’s vision going forward by ensuring continuity of effort through the continuous changeover of military members, Thomas noted.
“I-WEPTAC provides a tremendous opportunity for all Airmen to have a significant impact on the future of combat support by giving them a voice in the process,” Thomas said.
The event is open to all Airmen. For more information and to register, those with a common access card can visit this link: https://eis.afimsc.us.af.mil/I-WEPTAC/SitePages/Home.aspx#!/home.