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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Airmen + Core Missions = Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global PowerAirmen + Core Missions = Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power
                        
                        
                        Airmen + Core Missions = Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power
                
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Airmen + Core Missions = Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global PowerPublished Aug. 15, 2013
            No single core mission offers only one of the three effects of airpower—*Global Vigilance, Global Reach, or Global Power*—
because all five core missions are necessary to provide the integrated global airpower effects that only the Air Force can
supply. And each Airman, regardless of their mission-specific specialty, plays a critical role in delivering these effects. For
example, a remotely piloted aircraft pilot does not just supply *Global Vigilance*, a boom operator on a tanker does not just
bring *Global Reach*, and a navigator on a bomber does not just dispense *Global Power*. Using their innovative natures, these
Airmen play a part in providing all three, just as all Airmen do.

Air Force history is full of examples of the
ways that innovative Airmen have brought
our core missions together to deliver
*Global Vigilance, Global Reach*, and *Global
Power*. The ingenuity of Airmen was on
full display during the first 24 hours of
Operation DESERT STORM in 1991. The
attack plan called for more than 150 attacks
against separate targets—more targets
in a single day than were attacked by the
entire 8th Air Force in the first two years
of the combined bomber offensive over
Europe during World War II. This degree of complexity and precision, unequaled in
the annals of military history, was made
possible when an Airman’s new theory of targeting was combined with advanced
airpower technologies. The introduction
of stealth technology and the expansion of
types and numbers of precision weapons, combined with a targeting approach based on achieving specific effects rather than
widespread destruction, created a new concept of operations known as parallel warfare—the simultaneous application of
force across the breadth and depth of the theater. When combined, these elements heralded a turning point in the character
of warfare that continues to have a defining influence on how to win future conflicts.
Another powerful real-world example of Air Force *Global
Vigilance, Global Reach*, and *Global Power* occurred at the
start of Operation ALLIED FORCE when two B-2 stealth
bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri,
for their assigned targets in Serbia. As the first coalition
aircraft to enter heavily defended enemy airspace, each
B-2 dropped 16 satellite-aided precision bombs to attack
their targets, paving the way for the rest of the initial
aerial attack force to follow shortly thereafter. Over the
course of the first eight weeks of the conflict, the B-2s, all
flying nonstop round-trip combat sorties from Missouri,
destroyed 33 percent of the total targets in the campaign.
More recently, in 2013, B-2 bombers flew non-stop
training sorties from Whiteman to South Korea to signal
America’s resolve and ability to quickly deliver airpower
effects anywhere on the globe.
*Global Vigilance, Global Reach*, and *Global Power* were also demonstrated in full force during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
Bringing all of our core missions to the joint fight, the Air Force provided armed overwatch, close air support, mobility
operations, and ISR. Air Force ISR, coupled with the relentless precision bombing of Iraqi forces, assured coalition
commanders that their unprotected flanks were secure, allowing a lightly contested advance to Baghdad that hastened the
fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime after just three weeks of fighting.
In 2011, the Air Force brought our core missions together
to simultaneously conduct many additional andhighly
diverse missions around the globe, including in Libya,
Japan, and South America. In particular, after observing
revolutionary events unfold across Northern Africa, the
Air Force was called into action on March 19, 2011, to
help enforce a United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over
Libya. In Operations ODYSSEY DAWN and UNIFIEDPROTECTOR, airpower was a decisive factor during
the Libyan conflict, even with a comparatively small
indigenous ground force. Through airpower, our Nation
was able to limit U.S. military involvement and minimize
the associated cost and risks of a protracted commitment
of American forces. At the same time, Airmen provided
tsunami disaster relief to the Japanese people more
than 5,000 miles away. Performing with characteristic
professionalism, Airmen evacuated 7,500 American citizens from hazardous zones in northeast Japan; delivered 60 percent
of U.S. relief supplies; provided vital information about the devastated region to Japanese leaders; re-opened additional
airfield capacity; and ultimately provided a much-needed measure of comfort in the wake of multiple disasters that occurred
at the same time.

Concurrently, the Air Force was providing close air support, airlift, and ISR in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM as well as supplying logistical support to promote Presidential diplomatic efforts in South America.
Every Airman—in every flight, in every squadron, in every wing, in every major command in the Air Force—plays a critical
role in providing airpower. The operator cannot do her job without the maintainer doing his job; the maintainer can only
do his job when the civil engineer does her job; and the civil engineer is able to do her job because support personnel ensure
that she and her family are taken care of. We are all connected across all specialties and mission areas in providing *Global
Vigilance, Global Reach*, and *Global Power* for America. Every Airman is critically important!
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Click here to go back to the Airpower for Airmen PageClick here to go to America's Asymmetric Advantage PageClick here to watch the Global Vigilance, Global Reach, Global Power for America VideoAir Force Vision 



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