COMAMC underscores air mobility’s role in ‘flying and fixing to fight and win’ at AFA 2026

Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley said Air Mobility Command is operating at an intense global tempo and retooling how it measures readiness for a prolonged, high-end fight, outlining a series of changes in maintenance, training and logistics during the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Sept. 16.

Speaking alongside Gen. S. L. Davis of Air Force Global Strike Command, Lt. Gen. Linda Hurry of Air Force Materiel Command and Maj. Gen. Jon Eberlan, Air Combat Command’s director of logistics, engineering and force protection, Tulley addressed the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s operational imperative to fly and fix aircraft to deter adversaries and prevail in contested theaters if deterrence fails.

Tulley said AMC currently has roughly 300 aircraft deployed across multiple geographic combatant commands, supported by about 10,000 Airmen. He emphasized that strategic air refueling represents only a fraction of what mobility forces provide, noting AMC also moves supplies, munitions, sustainment and base operating support that joint commanders rely on. “Air refueling is just part of the story,” Tulley said. “What strikes me is the lessons that they’re bringing back. We’ve got a generation of Airmen who are going to come back home with combat experience that will be priceless for [countering] our pacing threat.”

With a largely fixed aircraft inventory, Tulley argued for moving beyond traditional, binary readiness models and toward assessments that capture combat power in a drawn-out conflict. “When we think about readiness in Air Mobility Command, we really think about answering four questions: readiness of what, for what, for when, and at what cost. But when we look at the lessons in Ukraine, we also have to ask ourselves: for how long?” Tulley stated. “Readiness in contact is the way we’re approaching this.”

He pointed to forward maintenance as a concrete example of building and sustaining readiness under fire. Air Force Materiel Command, he said, pushed depot-level capability to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, where maintainers have replaced 30 KC-135 Stratotanker boom assemblies in theater rather than flying aircraft back to the United States.

As global demands rise, Tulley said AMC serves as the global air component to U.S. Transportation Command, juggling simultaneous requirements across 11 combatant commands. “For us, it’s really about discerning the requirements across those combatant commands to include TRANSCOM’s own, and then their priorities,” Tulley explained. “What we really need, and what we’re moving towards, is a system that lets us see all 11 combatant commands.”

Tulley also addressed pilot-production and training bottlenecks, saying the command is reviewing the entire enterprise to keep seasoned crews in operational squadrons and streamline requirements where possible. “At the end of the day, we really need experience in the squadrons,” Tulley said, noting that he recently convened a team to examine how the command can simplify its training requirements. “How much time do we spend in training now? What are our requirements for all of our mission sets. How can we simplify that? Always assure we have the basic level of readiness to keep the global transportation system operating, but then tailor the training we need for that high-end fight.”

Underscoring the realities of contested operations, Tulley described a recent mission in which a KC-135 crew and maintenance team sheltered during a ballistic missile attack, then emerged to contain a major fuel leak, patch shrapnel damage and return the aircraft to fly a transoceanic leg home for depot work. “Pretty simple for us: train like you fight, train like you will fight in a peer fight,” Tulley said. “Training like you fight has got to stress our Airmen. It’s got to train them to be ready for those stresses, and then do it again and again and again.”

He said contested logistics demands new levels of precision in tracking and delivering not only munitions but also critical replacement parts for aircraft operating in hostile environments. “One of the things I’d say about logistics and supply lines are that we are good, but we’re getting better,” Tulley stated. “If you can get to the granularity and the precision to say, ‘Okay, I need these [Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts] delivered with those munitions,’ you’re increasing combat capability. You’re turning aircraft back into the fight faster.”

Tulley closed by stressing that AMC’s edge lies in its ability to generate, sustain and then rapidly regenerate combat capability under contested conditions, integrating maintenance, logistics, training and operations to keep mobility forces ready to support the Joint Force wherever and whenever needed.