Hand in Hand: AF leaders, industry gather to share goals, ideas for future Published March 31, 2016 By Jenny Gordon Robins Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Working together to share information and resources, continuing to take care of our military's weapon systems to ensure mission readiness, and delivering combat capabilities was the focus of the 2016 Program Executive Officer Review and Outlook conference March 24 at the Museum of Aviation. Senior leaders from across Air Force Materiel Command participated in the annual event with industry partners to discuss trends in Air Force acquisition, respective portfolio plans and requirements, contracting, and other long-range plans in order to gain a better understanding of the needs of the Air Force. With a workforce of nearly 43,000 airmen, the Air Force Sustainment Center is responsible for the operational logistics and sustainment of the Air Force's mission in delivering combat power. That sustainment includes weapon systems such as the C-5 Galaxy, the C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules, all maintained at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex here. "The value of program executive officer roundtables allows us to articulate to our commercial partners and airmen what it is we need to help us deliver combat power," said Lt. Gen. Lee Levy, AFSC commander. "The closer that our uniformed military, civil servants and commercial partners can work together, the better we'll be able to fight and win our nation's wars." Portfolio presentations were made in several areas, including mobility, battle management, agile combat support, armament, fighter/bomber, ISR/SOF and USSOCOM FW. Opportunities for support included areas in cyber resiliency, additive manufacturing, Condition-Based Maintenance Plus, software acquisition and development and robotics. Working hand in hand with AFSC is the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, whose program offices and key staff functions support the weapon systems and material that are used around the world by our armed forces and allies. There are nearly 2,800 different programs within AFLCMC whose programs are supported by nearly 26,000 people. Both centers are constantly looking for ways to conduct its services in order to support warfighters across the globe. "It's really important as this gives us an opportunity to interact with businesses that have services we absolutely need - everything from big business and large defense contractors all the way to small business," said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, AFLCMC commander. "We know we don't have a corner on the market for the best ideas. We have a lot of great ideas, but there's a lot that industry can provide us." The annual event, which began in 2003 as the Robins Annual Requirements Symposium, was held in partnership between the base and the Aerospace Industry Committee of the Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce.