Goldfein: USAF Must Think About Space Superiority Like It Thinks About Air Superiority


CSAF Gen. David Goldfein speaks during AWS18 Feb. 23, 2018, in Orlando, Fla.Air Force Magazine photo by Mike Tsukamoto.

The Air Force needs to change the way it thinks about operations in space, and make it the highest priority it can because wars in that domain are coming, USAF Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said Friday.

“It is time for us as a service, regardless of specialty badge, to embrace space superiority with the same passion and sense of ownership as we apply today to air superiority,” Goldfein said during his AWS18 keynote.

The Air Force needs to understand how to integrate air, space, and cyber in a joint campaign. It’s been a challenge that came on quickly, since the US military has only had about 10 years to refine how it operates in both cyber and space.

To start to change how the service thinks about space, Goldfein said he directed Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, commander of Air Education and Training Command, to take on force development as a “command responsibility” and “revolutionize” how the Air Force trains its officers and NCOs to better prepare their ability to conduct space operations.

“I believe we’re going to be fighting from space in a matter of years, and we’re the service that must lead joint warfighting in this new contested domain,” Goldfein said. “It’s what the nation demands.”