JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – Organizers from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center are offering Airmen an opportunity to help shape the future of combat support by submitting topics for the third annual Installation and Mission Support Weapons and Tactics Conference.
I-WEPTAC 2019 takes place April 1-10 in San Antonio. The purpose of the conference is to address current and future challenges in I&MS mission areas by leveraging expertise and experience from Airmen around the world.
“(I-WEPTAC) outputs will be actionable recommendations to ensure we continue to deliver agile installation and mission support capabilities in support of the National Defense Strategy and major command operational plans,” said Maj. Gen. Brad Spacy, AFIMSC commander.
The 2019 conference theme is “The Installation Weapons System in Multi-Domain Operations.” In support of the theme, AFIMSC planners are seeking problem statements for I&MS challenges by Oct. 26. Airmen with topic ideas are asked to coordinate within their chain of command for submittal.
From the topics submitted, four will ultimately be advanced to Mission Area Working Groups, or MAWGs, that will be tasked with developing innovative courses of action as solutions to the problem statements. MAWG participants are hand-picked to participate based on their expertise on the topics.
“There are more than 150 Airmen involved in our Mission Area Working Groups who have a ton of ideas,” Spacy said. “We force them to think through them deliberately and present solutions to senior leaders. Then we can take those – maybe the whole recommendation, maybe parts of it – and develop policy and strategy to get after these hard questions.”
Topics in 2018 focused on infrastructure investment, resilient and agile support operations and development of multi-function combat Airmen. Efforts last year resulted in a combat support wing concept that’s undergoing proof-of-concept testing.
“We’re able to take I-WEPTAC recommendations from idea to proof of concept in a matter of months — that is agility and that is critical to lethality!” Spacy said. “As the single intermediate headquarters for I&MS capabilities, AFIMSC is uniquely positioned to lead integrated and cross-functional innovation.”
“I-WEPTAC has helped ‘bridge the gap’ and establish dialogue across major commands and core function leads to inform strategy and resourcing recommendations,” said Col. Shawn Thompson, chief of the AFIMSC Strategy and Innovation Division and I-WEPTAC 2019 coordinator.
In addition to the working group sessions and out-briefs on April 10, related activities include a mission support leadership summit, general officer-senior executive service summit and industry day. The out-brief and industry day are open to all Airmen.
For more information about I-WEPTAC, visit the website at www.afimsc.af.mil/iweptac2019. To propose a topic, click on the Topic Proposal Form at the top right of the page. For more information, email afimsc.xzp.workflow@us.af.mil
