Air Force Featured Stories

In their own words: Airmen Powered by Innovation -- the video series

  • Published
  • By Gen. Larry O. Spencer
  • Air Force Vice Chief of Staff


WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- We are the world’s greatest Air Force because we have the world's greatest Airmen. The ingenuity and enthusiasm each of you bring to the fight are how we continue to dominate the air, space, and cyber domains.

In April of last year, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark A. Welsh III and I introduced the Airmen Powered by Innovation (API) program, and in November we launched a new and improved API page on the Air Force Portal, making it even easier for you to communicate your ideas.

Since last April, we have reviewed close to 3,000 ideas from across the Air Force that have the potential to save $35 million in taxpayer dollars. These figures continue to grow daily. These are savings that can be used to make our Air Force even better – more cost efficient, more people-focused and even more lethal. 

We have been listening and adopting the ideas many of you have submitted. From simple changes that have optimized legacy processes and returned valuable time to our Airmen, to more complex ideas that have the potential to save millions of dollars.  

To illustrate the level of importance we are placing on your submissions, I want to share with each you some of the ideas that are fueling change in our Air Force. These short videos are from Airmen just like you who took on my challenge to make our Air Force even better. The Airmen highlighted talk about their ideas and experiences with the API program. You will see that every idea, no matter how big or small, has the potential to be a game changer.

Think you have an idea that can make our Air Force better? If so, we want to hear from you, because every Airman and every dollar counts. Fly, fight and win!

For more information about API and suggestions submitted to date, or to submit an idea, please go to the Air Force Portal and enter “API” in the search function.