The Air Force will not proceed with a stand-alone Integrated Capabilities Command. Leadership will fold the planned command’s functions into Air Force Futures, the A5/7 organization at the Pentagon, and establish a new Chief Modernization Officer to steer the work. The department set April 1, 2026 as the target to complete the transfer. Defense officials confirm the provisional ICC unit continues to operate in the interim and will hand off work packages to A5/7 during the reorganization.
A formal statement outlined the new role and the focus areas the service wants under one roof. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said, “This restructuring will accelerate the delivery of combat power, improve efficiency, and shorten the decision timeline.” The change follows months of uncertainty after the broader “reoptimization” initiative paused earlier in the year. The provisional ICC stood up in September 2024 to centralize how the Air Force wrote requirements and linked “mission threads” across portfolios. According to industry sources, the shift eases friction with major commands that preferred to keep some requirements authority close to operations.
A5/7 Absorbs ICC Functions and Creates Modernization Lead
Air Force Futures (A5/7) will absorb ICC’s analytic and requirements-integration functions. The department will create a Chief Modernization Officer inside A5/7 as the single accountable lead. The job covers four lanes that match the provisional command’s charter:
- Strategy and force design
- Mission integration and mission threads
- Capability development and requirements
- Modernization investment prioritization
A5/7 already runs boards and governance that connect concept development, requirements under JCIDS, and the Program Objective Memorandum. Keeping the work inside those venues avoids new forums and uses standing processes that guide Analyses of Alternatives, portfolio reviews, and documentation. The department’s aim is fewer duplicate staff actions and shorter coordination. Folding ICC portfolio work into A5/7 places the requirements integrator next to force designers and studies teams that run AoAs, mission-level models, and campaign analyses.
The Chief Modernization Officer will chair sessions where enterprise trade-offs are set. Cross-portfolio mission threads built under ICC(P) now feed A5/7 reviews and the modernization chief’s guidance for the FY-27 and FY-28 planning cycles. Secretariat activities stay aligned. The Integrated Capabilities Office on the secretariat side continues. Air Force Materiel Command’s Integrated Development Office remains the front door for industry concepts and early translation of mission threads into prototyping work. Officials say that pairing keeps requirements, acquisition planning, and early engineering on the same page.
Requirements Flow and Mission Thread Integration
The policy change shifts where enterprise requirements converge. Under the provisional ICC, MAJCOMs fed portfolio inputs to an independent command that refereed priorities across theaters and mission areas. The revised model routes arbitration through A5/7, with the Chief Modernization Officer convening MAJCOM A5/8s, warfighting commands, AFMC, and the secretariat. Officials expect faster handoffs between force design, requirements validation, and programming.
Mission threads remain the organizing tool for integrated capability development. ICC(P) delivered a classified portfolio guidance package to senior leaders and a consolidated demand signal to industry. Both remain in force and will guide the next set of trade-offs. Staffing now runs through A5/7 boards that feed the Air Force Requirements Oversight Council and the Joint Staff under JCIDS. That reduces review points and shortens the distance between initial capabilities documents, AoA guidance, and program starts. According to program officers familiar with ICC(P), this change helps when a mission thread touches multiple PEOs and cannot wait for sequential endorsements.
Integration with AFMC’s IDO stays in place. IDO handles early industry engagement and turns mission problems into capability calls. With IDO shaping front-end technical work and AFMC overseeing maturation and prototyping lanes, A5/7 can focus on analysis and portfolio trades and move decisions to governance faster. Secretariat-side ICO continues to push acquisition reform areas like data-centric C2 and resilience across the kill web.
Leadership Changes and Implementation
On Oct. 30, the Senate confirmed Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach as the 24th Chief of Staff of the Air Force, following Gen. David Allvin’s retirement announcement in August. Wilsbach previously led Air Combat Command, whose units feed many inputs to enterprise mission threads.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi will run the internal A5/7 restructuring. He most recently led the Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis, which oversees operational test, tactics, and large-force exercises. That background aligns with the mission-integration work moving to A5/7. Secretary Meink previewed his view in September during a media roundtable. “I’ll be honest, I’m not a big believer in the competition side of the house,” he said. He followed with a clear aim. “we need to be able to win, period.”
The department messaged fewer coordination steps, flatter staffing, and reuse of last year’s analyses rather than a fresh build-out. Measurable outputs through spring 2026 include portfolio guidance updates tied to mission threads, decisions recorded in existing boards, and faster passage from analysis to POM entries. Secretariat-side ICO and AFMC’s IDO remain as counterparts. A5/7 gains a single accountable lead for modernization decisions who can translate mission-level analysis into budget choices when a thread spans multiple portfolios.
Transition Through 2026, Workforce and Oversight
The department set April 1, 2026 as the deadline to complete the transfer of ICC(P) functions into A5/7. Until then, the provisional command will support portfolio guidance, mission-integration studies, and programming prep for FY-28. Senior leaders already received a classified guidance package this summer, and industry already saw a consolidated demand signal that frames problem statements without picking solutions.
A5/7 must keep momentum on mission-thread analysis while people move into new billets. Decision forums need staging so enterprise trades do not stall. Keeping ICO and IDO in place supports both, since those offices carry outreach and early engineering and A5/7 runs analysis and adjudication. Officers who worked the ICC(P) stand-up say most subject-matter teams will move with their workbooks rather than start from scratch.
Congress pressed for details on the earlier “reoptimization” concept, including staffing, authorities, and cost estimates for a new command. Folding the plan into A5/7 answers part of that, because the Air Staff already owns governance scaffolding and oversight pathways. Program offices can plan against existing boards and working groups rather than a to-be-built headquarters, which should help the next POM cycle.
Industry contacts welcomed a consistent demand signal and quicker decisions, though views differ on whether a new command would have produced speed. Changes that reuse known processes tend to sustain progress. The A5/7 alignment follows that track and reduces churn linked to building a new headquarters. A major risk is managerial. Mission-thread integration needs deep modeling, red-team work, and firm prioritization across portfolios with strong advocates. The modernization chief needs authority, time on senior calendars, and access to data that can settle disputes.
Joint alignment stays central. Several mission threads depend on joint choices in fires networks, battle management, and counter-strike resilience. The A5/7 structure can sync with Joint Staff reviews and sister-service capability boards, which matters when choices affect shared waveforms, data fabrics, and munitions inventories. Program schedules still hinge on technical maturity and test outcomes. The department did not announce cancellations or new starts in this move. It described a governance and decision-speed adjustment that matches portfolio-level exercises ICC(P) ran in 2024–2025 and the consolidated demand signal to industry.
Space Force futures work continues on its own track. The original reoptimization concept included a Space Futures Command. The Air Force decision does not alter Guardian-led integration efforts, and the department limited changes to Air Force Futures, the ICC(P) handoff, and creation of the modernization lead. The department did not publish end-strength changes tied to dropping a new major command. ICC(P) personnel will shift into A5/7 billets that mirror current workloads. A headquarters commander and command-level staff positions will not be created.
Our analysis shows the A5/7 construct gives the modernization chief a direct way to tie mission-thread work to budget builds, hold enterprise trade-offs on a single floor, and keep decisions moving without adding another command layer.
REFERENCE SOURCES
- https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-dropping-integrated-capabilities-command/
- https://www.militarytimes.com/air/2025/10/17/us-air-force-scraps-plan-for-new-capabilities-command/
- https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3906935/air-force-activates-provisional-integrated-capabilities-command/
- https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3850313/daf-stands-up-integrated-capabilities-office-to-advance-operational-imperatives/
- https://breakingdefense.com/2025/10/air-force-reverses-course-on-integrated-capabilities-command/
- https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/10/17/us-air-force-scraps-plan-for-new-capabilities-command/
- https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/10/air-force-spikes-plans-stand-command-focused-competing-china/408844/
- https://insidedefense.com/share/225469
- https://www.afacpo.com/AQDocs/A57_Capability_Development_Guidebook_Vol2B.pdf
- https://www.afacpo.com/AQDocs/A57_Capability_Development_Guidebook_Vol2DAnnexA.pdf
- https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/10/30/senate-confirms-wilsbach-as-air-force-chief-of-staff/
- https://www.airandspaceforces.com/senate-confirms-wilsbach-air-force-chief-of-staff/
- https://www.reuters.com/world/us/surprise-move-us-air-force-chief-says-he-will-retire-2025-08-18/
