The U.S. Air Force has adopted Force Design 2026, replacing the strategic standards established in 2024. The classified framework shifts the service’s outlook toward sensors, networks, artificial intelligence, autonomy, and command and control.

An Air Force spokesperson described the document as a lasting guide for operational planning and modernization. It is intended to help identify operational problems, shape capability development, and establish priorities as the service changes how it fights.

“The U.S. Air Force Force Design 2026 provides an enduring framework for identifying operational problems, shaping capability development, and informing modernization priorities – ensuring the Air Force evolves how it fights, and that it fields a winning force,” the spokesperson told Military Times.

The public will not get to inspect the document itself. “The Force Design is a classified document so there is no releasable copy,” the spokesperson said.

The new framework succeeds guidance announced by the service in October 2024. That earlier guidance appeared in a “One Force Design” document signed by then Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin.

The 2024 document was described as the “North Star” for Air Force modernization plans. It divided the service’s approach into three distinct mission areas, including categories for air defenses against unmanned aircraft systems.

Under that structure, Air Force capabilities for destroying drones were classified according to short range, long range, and intercontinental defense. Force Design 2026 now presents a changed strategic outlook, although its classified status limits the details available publicly.

The Air Force release nevertheless offers several signals about the new direction. The updated design is described as “more sharply articulating the need for change, and the capabilities the Air Force needs” to overcome sophisticated technology.

Sensors, networks, and artificial intelligence are specifically identified as technologies that have rapidly affected air defenses. Their growing role is central to the service’s public description of the classified framework.

Lt. Gen. Chris Niemi, deputy chief of staff for Force Modernization and Chief Modernization Officer, said emerging technologies are creating new opportunities while also challenging established methods of producing airpower.

“New technologies are enabling fantastic capabilities that were unimaginable just a few years ago, but those same technologies threaten some of the ways we have historically generated airpower,” Niemi said in the release.

The document also describes how the “future Air Force” will seek to combine autonomy, sensors, and command and control with aircraft to “generate effects.” That integration carries a particular emphasis on operating synchronously in denied environments.

The approach represents a move toward coordinating technology and aircraft across demanding operating conditions. According to the service’s description, sensors and software will receive greater focus than the interception and destruction of individual drones.

That shift distinguishes Force Design 2026 from the categories outlined in the 2024 document. The previous framework organized drone killing capabilities by defensive range, while the new outlook emphasizes integrated capabilities involving autonomy, information, and aircraft.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach described the new Force Design as a major change in the service’s approach. He said the framework “presents a fundamental shift” for the Air Force.

Wilsbach also pointed to the dual impact of recent technological advances. “New technologies are enabling fantastic capabilities that were unimaginable just a few years ago, but those same technologies threaten some of the ways we have historically generated airpower,” Wilsbach said.

Although the complete design remains classified, the Air Force’s announcement makes its priorities clear within the information released. Force Design 2026 centers modernization planning on sensors, networks, artificial intelligence, autonomy, command and control, and their integration with aircraft.

The framework is intended to endure as the Air Force identifies operational problems and develops capabilities. Its stated purpose is to guide modernization while ensuring the service changes how it fights and fields what the spokesperson called “a winning force.”