United States Air Force and Space Force officials are frantically reworking structures and systems in preparation to face off with China. According to Military.com, Department of Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall starkly warned on Monday, “we are out of time.”

China has been on a mission for years to prepare for war in the Pacific, likely against U.S. forces. The Communist nation wants to establish further control over waterways and trade routes it routinely claims are under its jurisdiction.

Other countries, including the U.S., see the situation quite differently.

Kendall said he does not enjoy being a “broken record.” However, there’s been at least 20 years of watching Beijing “building a military that is designed, purpose-built, to deter and defeat the United States if we intervene in the western Pacific.”

The Air Force secretary joined branch Chief of Staff David Allvin in releasing 16 changes planned for the military. Some of them are short-term and predicted to be completed within a year.

"In a show of nuclear readiness, the U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile test from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California into the Pacific Ocean amid ongoing tensions with China & North Korea."

I guess climate change is taking a backseat? 🤣 pic.twitter.com/WN81g1YtsI

— Jordan Spargo (@SpargoJordan) February 11, 2023

But most target “great power competition” with an increase in defense spending to prepare to thwart Chinese ambitions. 

Part of the effort, according to Allvin, is to bring warrant officers back into the fold who want to code for the U.S. The goal is to produce airmen who are focused on cyber and information technology to counter China’s growing strength in these fields. 

Kendall recalled that Communist Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed his military leadership to be prepared to sweep over Taiwan by 2027. His command noted that the U.S. may well be involved in the island democracy’s defense.

Secretary Kendall observed that freshmen starting out at the Air Force Academy and ROTC units will be getting their commissions when Xi’s date for targeting Taiwan arrives.

More plans include remissioning and renaming the Air Education and Training Command into the Airman Development Command. Allvin said it would be retooled “to provide airmen a common, mission-focused development and training path.”

He added that the Air Force is determined to enhance the “cadet experience.” The goal is to prepare future military leaders to be ready to take on the People’s Republic of China in the Pacific and likely elsewhere.