MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. — Air University is using student-led teams to test and refine artificial intelligence tools aimed at improving how Airmen plan, decide and execute in operational environments.
Through Alpha Blue, part of the Air University Innovation Accelerator ecosystem, students identify real operational problems, test AI-enabled workflows and build solutions that can be used outside the classroom. The effort supports Air University’s mission to educate and develop joint Airpower warriors prepared to operate in complex environments.
Maj. Stephen Street, an Air Command and Staff College student, discussed the initiative during a recent studio session and said the focus is on near-term warfighting impact.
“You are going to see a lot of options for your elective projects this year,” Street said. “Many are fantastic, long-term studies looking at 2035 and beyond. But if you came here looking for a project that actively moves the needle on combat lethality today, you are in the right place.”
He said the work reflects an operating environment where timelines are compressed and units have to act with what they already have.
“Right now, U.S. forces are actively employing AI in the Middle East,” he said. “We are operating in the ‘fight tomorrow night’ window.”
The focus is on using existing tools in real-world workflows instead of waiting on future systems.
“We are going to war with the tools we have right now,” Street said. “We cannot wait for the perfect, custom-built military AI model to arrive in a decade. We have to execute with the cognitive tools currently sitting on our networks.”
The effort centers on human-machine teaming and helping Airmen move from information to action faster.
“The defining metric of the next conflict won’t just be stealth or payload,” Street said. “It will be decision superiority, the ability to gain and maintain a faster, higher-fidelity OODA loop than our adversaries.”
Street said AI should support Airmen by cutting down time spent on routine tasks.
“The goal is to absorb the low-level administrative burden, the data formatting, the slide engineering, the friction,” he said. “We want the machine handling that so you can dedicate the majority of your cognitive bandwidth to high-value operational art.”
Students are testing ways to use AI tools to cut the time required to build planning products, giving operators more time for mission analysis and execution.
Despite growing interest in AI, Street said innovation across the force is uneven.
“Right now, the Air Force is stuck in a trap of misaligned effort and bureaucratic friction,” he said. “We have brilliant Airmen doing incredible things, but those pockets of excellence have no way to spread.”
He said many efforts fade once key individuals move on.
“Innovation is fragile,” Street said. “It relies on a few passionate individuals, and the second that champion moves on, the effort can evaporate.”
Air University, through Alpha Blue, is set up to address that gap by giving students a place to test ideas, refine them and turn them into repeatable practices.
By working through those processes in an academic setting, the university helps reduce risk before ideas reach operational units and speeds up adoption in the field.
To build a more durable pipeline, Street outlined a three-tiered approach focused on sustaining and scaling the work.
“The Cognitive Warfare Acceleration Center provides the leadership and continuity to protect innovators and ensure efforts do not disappear,” he said.
He described Air University as a proving ground where ideas can be worked through before they are used in operational units.
“If an AI failure impacts a student planning exercise, we learn a lesson and adjust,” Street said. “That is far different than learning that lesson in a live operational environment.”
The final layer focuses on delivering usable capability to the force.
“We are building a centralized hub to house baselined prompts and AI tactics, techniques and procedures,” he said. “It will guide operators on which tool to use and how to use it effectively.”
The initiative relies on participation across Air University schools to refine and scale solutions.
“For the Alpha Blue team at ACSC, you are the architects,” Street said. “You provide continuity and help define where human and machine tasks are best aligned.”
He described Squadron Officer School participants as the next layer of execution.
“For the Alpha Gray teams, you are the test pilots,” he said. “Your job is to pressure-test these workflows and determine what provides real operational value.”
As students move through Air University, those validated practices move with them and spread across the force.
“Every tactic you validate walks out the door with you,” Street said. “That creates an immediate, compounding effect across the Air Force.”
The effort reflects Air University’s role as America’s Airpower University, translating education and innovation into practical capability the Joint Force can use now.
“Our friends are out getting it done right now,” Street said. “Use your time at Maxwell to build the cognitive weapon system they need.”