Never accuse the USAF of being too far behind the times – they’ve just unveiled a long term plan to create ‘Air Force 2.0,’ including social networking (MyBase!), virtual training, and more ways to appeal to those tech savvy kids than you can shake a stick at. The Air Education and Training Command paper details the plan (but no real mention of cost), wrapping up with a look at three of the ways they hope Air Force 2.0 will function:

Attached at the end of the white paper is a series of three vignettes, detailing narrative form how MyBase will operate for each sector: recruiting to and inspiring the public after a recent terrorist attack with games as well as social settings; training new cadets in a virtual Squadron Officer School (vSOS) with avatars of famous historical thinkers, guest lectures at the University of Texas, and full-blown simulation of what it’s like to watch an air mission from the ground in an Army M1A2 Abram; and, finally, using avatars as interaction methods for research about security issues and further training.

Ooooook. Well, they’ve projected plans running through 2030, so we’ll see how long it takes for the USAF 2.0 to become reality.

Air Force Unveils Potential Plans for MyBase Virtual World [Virtual Worlds News]