General (Ret.) Mark D. Kelly

Former Commander, Air Combat Command U.S. Air Force

General Mark D. Kelly completed his 38-year USAF career as the Commander, Air Combat Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia where he trained, equipped and provided combat-ready air, space, cyber and intelligence forces for worldwide rapid deployment and operations. Prior to leading Air Combat Command, General Kelly served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Headquarters, United States Air Force at the Pentagon. He has also commanded two Numbered Air Forces (12AF and 9AF), an Air Expeditionary Wing in Afghanistan, two Fighter Wings and a Fighter Squadron.

General Kelly entered the Air Force in 1986, receiving his commission from the Air Force ROTC program at Southwest Texas State University. He is a graduate of the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School, the National War College and the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education.

General Kelly earned his pilot wings at Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas and is a command pilot with more than 6,000 flying hours, including over 800 combat hours in fighter aircraft. General Kelly resides in Raleigh, NC and currently serves as an independent defense and leadership consultant.

Day Three | 6 November

12:30 PANEL DISCUSSION: ADVANCING OPERATIONAL TRAINING FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE CONFLICTS: ESSENTIAL MISSIONS AND GETTING READY FOR CCAs

• What are the key missions that pilots must ace in a peer conflict and given lessons from Ukraine? How must air forces prioritise live and synthetic training for lethal advantage?

• What are the future trends in training for 6th generation aircraft, alongside unmanned systems?

• Changing training needs on the fly: How to build-in flexibility and minimize disruption in the transition from a traditional training cycle? How would existing trainingregimes need to evolve and how quickly can this transition take place when needed?

• What might the teaching of “softer” but necessary skills such physical and mental resilience need to look like and how to measure and assess these skills?

• How are air forces increasing retention of new pilots, and what strategies are they using to recruit the next generation of fighter pilots?

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Mark D..

Download The Latest Agenda