TINKER AFB - Almost 2,000 aerospace representatives and defense officials recently gathered near Tinker Air Force Base at the Reed Center at Delta Hotels for the 17th annual Tinker and the Primes conference, Paul Shirk of the 72nd AIr Base Wing Public Affairs wrote. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
29 August 2023 - Shirk write that the conference was hosted by the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce and provided the opportunity for prime and secondary contractors, government agencies, academic institutions and small businesses to come together to discuss how they can help sustain America’s ability to generate airpower.
Air Force keynote speakers at the conference spoke about competition with China, the importance of supply chain management, enterprise digital dominance as well as updates on Tinker AFB’s growing missions.
“The thing we have to get used to in general is that we’re now living in a world in which we have a true competitor who is challenging us,” said Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. “I spent 20 years worrying about the Soviet Union; they were a significant and real threat, and they were a serious adversary. China is more formidable to me by far than the Soviet Union ever was. They’ve got better resources, they’re more open-minded about buying technology, they’ve got much better manufacturing capability and they’re being very aggressive and single-minded about pursuing things that are very thoughtful and designed to defeat our ability to project power.”
Kendall detailed his Seven Operational Imperatives, stating that they are things that must be done to be successful operationally when projecting power. Several of his imperatives have a direct tie to missions carried out by Tinker AFB units.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
