Thomas Gnau: ‘Let’s Get To Work:’ New Commander at Air Force Life Cycle at Wright-Patterson
History is a “harsh teacher,” and future American military dominance is not guaranteed, the new commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center cautioned listeners at his assumption-of-command ceremony at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Thursday, Aug. 27.
Lt. Gen. Jason Voorheis, AFLCMC’s sixth commander, told his National Museum of the U.S. Air Force audience, and the 30,000 center employees beyond, that their jobs will require an “unapologetic obsession” with solving problems for pilots and warfighters.
Voorheis charged the center’s workforce with “having the courage to challenge the status quo, to push boundaries and to drive creative solutions.”
“Let’s get to work,” he said.
Voorheis knows Wright-Patt and AFLCMC well. This will be his fourth assignment at the center, which has its headquarters at the base.
In his new job, Voorheis will lead a huge Air Force organization, one responsible for the life span management of nearly all Air Force material goods — aircraft, engines, munitions, electronics, computers and weapons of all kinds.
Lt. Gen. Donna Shipton, his predecessor, retired last month, ending her time as the center’s first female commander. Dennis D’Angelo, the center’s civilian executive director, oversaw operations until Voorheis formally took command.
Lt. Gen. Linda Hurry, Voorheis’ boss and commander of Air Force Materiel Command — also headquartered at Wright-Patterson — welcomed Voorheis to the job and congratulated him on his recent rise to three-star rank. This summer, the Senate confirmed his promotion to lieutenant general from the rank of brigadier general, allowing him to leapfrog a second star along the way.
Of some 330,000 uniformed members of the Air Force, only about 40 have three stars on their shoulders, Hurry noted.
William Bailey, a civilian executive and principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said he was encouraged that Voorheis was at the center’s helm. He said he has seen Voorheis’ willingness to put new ideas to work in the acquisition arena.
In particular, both Hurry and Bailey praised Voorheis’ stewardship of the new B-21 bomber, a plane expected to be the backbone of the Air Force’s future bomber fleet. He was the B-21’s system program director from June 2018 to May 2022.
“Many of these ideas have permeated through to what the Air Force is doing now,” Bailey said.
For his part, Voorheis said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Air Force Chief of Staff Kenneth Wilsbach have interviewed every candidate for a three-star position, including him.
His career includes time managing or supporting the A-10, F-15, F-16, F-22, F-35, F-47, KC-46 and other aircraft portfolios, and served as program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft. He also served as a security assistance officer in Baghdad, Iraq.
His most recent position was leading the “Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management” mission for the Air Force, a “systems of systems” mission meant to unite logistics, weapons and systems in an effort to make the Air Force faster and more efficient.
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