"AFMC does both of those things (modernizing and sustaining) ... and we have to do both of those simultaneously," said Richardson, who goes to work most days at AMFC headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

"Our PEOs (program executive officers) within AFMC are life cycle managers. So they don't get to make a choice between: Do I sustain or do I make a modification? They actually have to do both," the four-star general said.

Doing both is "front and center" in AFMC's strategic plan. The first objective is sustain the fleet -- "Because that's the fleet we have," Richardson said.

"That's why we exist. We work pretty hard to do that," he said. "It's definitely a balance."

Today's funding streams complicate the task. To build new systems, that takes what Richardson called "investment money." But to sustain existing systems takes flying hours and what he called "two separate pots of O and M," referring to operations and maintenance spending.

"For our legacy fleets, we truly are doing them at the same time," said Richardson, who assumed command of AFMC in June 2022. It's not unusual for AFMC leaders to navigate a new modification to a tanker while having to put that same tanker fleet through a heavy maintenance cycle every five years or overhauling engines at certain points.

"All of that has to happen simultaneously," he said.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff David Allvin help achieve the balance, said Richardson. They're mindful of flying hours, investment spending and weapons systems money.

"You kind of have to move all three levers together," he said.

Industry partners play a role, too.

"We absolutely need industry," he said. "Nobody would dispute that."

The command is setting up a "product support architecture" under Lt. Gen. Donna Shipton, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (also anchored at Wright-Patterson), to help address these challenges, he said.

The result may not be something observers see, but "hopefully you'll feel it in the end."

Headquartered at Wright-Patterson, AFMC manages more than a third of the Air Force budget, managing and dispersing funds across multiple installations, supporting research and development and multiple other tasks. The command includes more than 87,000 uniformed and civilian Airmen around the world.

The Air and Space Forces Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference (or "AFA ASC") ends Wednesday in National Harbor, Md.