On 8 OCT 25, MACH organizational representatives convened. At that meeting, the group authorized a
significant change in MACH strategy—how we go from where we are to where we need to be. We discussed the
reasons for an evolved strategy. Those reasons are summarized in this document. BLUF: this is a one page
explainer to aid understanding and orient the MACH Air Wing on the objectives of our evolved strategy.
“Victory” remains a successful advocacy campaign that gets military and Veteran flyers to a specific end
state. Two healthcare outcomes compose the end state: 1) enhanced cancer screening criteria and, 2) a new status
quo that puts both DoD and the VA at the forefront of aviator cancer screening technology research, testing,
evaluation, and employment. In this evolved strategy, outcomes #1 and #2 did not change. What changed is
when we begin work to get after those outcomes.
The ACES Act gets Mil & Veteran flyers to a cancer causation study conducted by the National
Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). The identification of cancer within military fixed
wing (rotary wing to follow) aviation helps Mil & Veteran flyers in two ways: 1) aid Veterans in obtaining
service connection for their cancer diagnoses, and 2) establish what we lack today: authoritative documentation
of carcinogens within military aviation operating environment(s). In practical terms, this will aid many Veterans
in developing their disability claims regarding service connection. Elsewhere, cancer causation will aid DoD in
cancer mitigation to the extent achievable. Previously, our plan was to proceed with development of legislation
described in the second paragraph contingent on NASEM’s study, likely published in mid/late-2028. However,
we have identified a way to remove a chunk of that timeline.
In early October 2025, MACH met with the Director of DoD’s PROject for Military Exposures and
Toxin History Evaluation in U.S. Service Members. PROMETHEUS operates within the Murtha Cancer Center
sited in Bethesda, MD. Owing to the brevity of this paper, extensive background and historical information are
omitted to get to the bottom line: PROMETHEUS is performing research that shares MACH’s twin aims: 1)
enhancing screening criteria and 2) incubating viable technologies whose potential improves early aviator
cancer detection. PROMETHEUS has been quietly performing this research and development (R&D) work for a
decade; advancing the frontiers of DoD and VA knowledge. This is the basis for an opportunity and the genesis
of this MACH evolved strategy.
MACH proposes scaling up the PROMETHEUS program with what they know and in their
development pipeline to operationalize their research program. This requires that MACH and PROMETHEUS
develop a common strategy that follows a familiar model we know from military aircraft development
programs: proceed from R&D test articles to initial operating capability (IOC) [introduction] to full operational
capability [normalized day to day ops]. Additionally, Mil and Veterans flyers make ideal sentinel populations
because of our exhaustively documented health backgrounds. In light of this opportunity, our imperative is to
build the bones and enabling details of a MACH and PROMETHEUS strategy. Once developed, MACH will
craft that strategy into a new MACH legislative concept destined for Congress. This could take years off of the
previous timeline. Why? Save lives and money—sooner rather than later.
In parallel, MACH organizational representatives are actively scanning the environment for contacts,
facts, leads, and other prospects that expand what MACH knows about other efforts, who are unbeknownst to
us, also operating in the aviator cancer space. This is not a matter of assimilating independent non-profits who
are operating separately because they so choose. Instead, this separate line of query is to map who is out here in
the advocacy battlespace. Think of this as an E-2/E-3 like effort to acquire who is operating within the airspace.
In closing, MACH’s policy remains to collaborate with like-minded organizations and individuals. However,
this MACH Air Wing evolved strategy—our (amended) flight plan is where we are going. Godspeed.