The Department of the Air Force has announced a series of sweeping initiatives to prepare the Air Force and Space Force for future global challenges. ADC reached out to Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations, and the environment, to garner insight on Great Power Competition (GPC), its implications for installations, and the role defense communities can play.

Here is our conversation, which is also available in America’s Defense Communities magazine.

ADC: The Air Force recently announced the GPC strategy. Can you talk broadly about what this strategy is and the immediate and long-term global threats that have made this effort imperative?

Chaudhary: I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on this crucial subject. Our nation has entered a decade of consequence, and I want to bring this message to our defense communities, raw and real. The military is facing a significant shift in the strategic security environment. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) harbors intentions and a growing capacity to reshape the international order for its benefit. This includes one of the largest military buildups in modern history. Added to this, Russia’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe. Frankly, we are smack dab in the middle of a Great Power Competition, and losing is not an option. To meet this challenge, [Air Force] Secretary [Frank] Kendall launched a focused sprint to re-optimize the department for GPC. In February, the department unveiled sweeping plans for re-optimizing the Department of the Air Force to deter and, if necessary, prevail. Through a series of key decisions, four core areas were identified: Develop People, Generate Readiness, Project Power, and Develop Capabilities.

ADC: What would a global conflict with China and/or Russia mean for Air Force installations and defense communities?

Chaudhary: Our bases are the platforms from which we project combat power, and we’re good at it—damn good, if I may say so. However, we need to adapt, change our mindset to a new regime of threats. During the GPC analysis, our installation teams took a close look and came up with two major findings.

First, our installations are not a monolith, and we can’t treat them that way. Since taking on this role, I have traveled to 45 installations, and what I’ve found is that our bases are as diverse as our mission sets. We have locations with missions that are “Employed-In-Place” like Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, where power and connectivity are critical. Other installations, including our fighter bases, have the job of getting the jets out of town and into the fight so they can deliver decisive blows to adversaries. These bases need ramp space, good hangars and robust runways. We also have space and missile launch facilities, complex training bases, test centers and joint bases where we are responsible for all the services.

This leads to our second finding. Our adversaries have demonstrated the capability and intent to attack our installations through both kinetic and non-kinetic means. They will disrupt our networks, go after our critical infrastructure and drive civil chaos in communities adjacent to our bases. This concerns me the most, because the asymmetric approach our adversaries plan to employ can impact our ability to get jets out of town and into the fight. During World War II, the father of the Air Force, Gen. Hap Arnold said, “Our bases are the determining factor in air operations.” If that is true, and I certainly believe it is, we have to embrace the reality that our installations—even our CONUS installations—are no longer a sanctuary from today’s threats.

ADC: How should local communities and state governments work with the Air Force to prepare for such scenarios?

Chaudhary: First of all, join us in acknowledging this new reality. Then partner with us to build more resilient communities, before we find ourselves unable to meet the moment in a time of real crisis. As I meet with our outstanding stakeholders, it’s easy to see that there is a lot that we are getting right, but there is more work to be done. That’s what I’ve been on a mission to do for the past year.

ADC: With the ever-changing landscape of global conflict, how might the roles of defense communities and installations need to evolve five or 10 years down the line? What does that look like?

Chaudhary: This is the good part, and I really mean this—the work I see going on between our installations and communities is truly phenomenal. However, we need to do more partnering. The kind of conflict we’re talking about in GPC will be unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, and we’ll be in it together. Our adversaries will be coming after our electrical grids, our water supply, or essential control systems that govern them all. This means we’re going to have to take the partnership between our installations and their surrounding communities to an all-new level.

The good news is that we are off to a good start. Installations are striking up third-party utilities privatization efforts that are jumpstarting economies and ruggedizing our bases. Localities are benefiting from things like state licenses for our new microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, and power-sharing agreements with the community in places like Edwards Air Force Base, California, that reduce grid stress on the community.

There is still work to be done. I’m sure you’ve seen in the news examples of encroachment and purchase of lands adjacent to our bases by foreign or unknown entities. These activities pose serious national security threats. Chambers of commerce must work closely with installation leadership and bring in the right authorities to deal with this challenge; it will require partnering beyond what we are used to. Additionally, we’ll have to see utilities as a continuum of the base, and strike partnerships and protocols that solidify national security priorities across the interagency and also ensure community needs are met.

We’ll also need to match DOD funding to Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to deliver redundant power systems like geothermal, wind, and solar that can bring in power sharing and uplift whole systems. Considering the challenge, the role of defense communities and installations will be more important than ever. We will need to work together to come up with innovative ways to increase resilience and ensure quality housing for our service members and their families.

If there is one thing I’ve seen with my own eyes across 30 years of service, it’s the unbreakable bond between our installations and defense communities. As the President regularly states, we have many obligations, but only one that is truly sacred: ensuring the men and women executing their daily mission are cared for. Amidst all the challenges we face as a nation, that’s the one imperative that gives me focus—and keeps me going every day.