US Air Force scraps plan for new capabilities command 

The functions of the provisional Independent Capabilities Command will be folded into a restructured version of Air Force Futures by next April, the department said Wednesday.

“This restructuring will accelerate the delivery of combat power, improve efficiency and shorten the decision timeline,” Air Force Sec. Troy Meink said in a statement.

Now, the duties of what would have been the ICC will still be done, but not as its own brand new command.

The Air Force said that this change will leverage the work done over the past year and speed up decision making, while cutting personnel and eliminating duplication of effort at echelons of command. It will also cut the number of steps needed to coordinate associated command structures, the department said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Department of the Air Force to review the effort to set up ICC, the department said.

In the process of that review, according to the emailed statement, Meink and Allvin ordered Air Force Futures to be restructured to better align the service’s modernization efforts.

As part of the restructuring of Air Force Futures, the service will create a new Chief Modernization Officer position. That official will be in charge of four main areas: Strategy and force design; mission integration and mission threads; capability development and requirements; and modernization investment prioritization.

Until the ICC is fully folded into Air Force Futures, the department said it will keep working to improve modernization and how it is prioritized, supporting key investment areas and preparing to join Futures.