{"id":826505,"date":"2025-02-12T11:13:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/air-force-chiefs-parting-warning-u-s-must-transform-space-force-to-counter-china\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T11:13:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:13:34","slug":"air-force-chiefs-parting-warning-u-s-must-transform-space-force-to-counter-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/air-force-chiefs-parting-warning-u-s-must-transform-space-force-to-counter-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force chief\u2019s parting warning: U.S. must transform Space Force to counter China"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall speaks to officer candidates at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., Dec. 6, 2024. Credit: U.S. Air Force <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 Outgoing Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall delivered a stark warning to Congress in his final weeks in office: The United States risks falling behind China in the military space race unless it fundamentally transforms its space capabilities.<\/p>\n

In a report submitted to Congress last month and discussed during a Jan. 13 talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Kendall outlined an ambitious vision for both the Air Force and Space Force, emphasizing the need for dramatic expansion in space-based capabilities between now and 2050 to counter growing threats from China and Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need a much bigger, much more powerful Space Force,\u201d Kendall said, adding that the military branch needs to evolve \u201cfrom the equivalent of a merchant marine to a navy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The assessment, which Kendall himself requested through last year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act, comes at a critical moment as lawmakers debate long-term military spending priorities amid escalating concerns about China\u2019s military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

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Credit: \u2018Department of the Air Force 2050\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

According to the \u201cThe Department of the Air Force in 2050\u201d <\/em>report, a copy of which was obtained by SpaceNews, the Space Force \u2014 currently comprising about 10,000 personnel \u2014 will need to grow substantially while investing heavily in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and modernized networks of space-based sensors.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpace will be recognized as the decisive domain for almost all military operations,\u201d the report projects, warning that by 2050, adversaries will possess significant numbers of both terrestrial and space-based weapons capable of attacking U.S. space systems.<\/p>\n

Kendall, who has overseen both the Air Force and Space Force since 2021, emphasized that future conflicts will operate at \u201cmachine speed, not human speed,\u201d requiring extensive integration of artificial intelligence for real-time data analysis and intelligence generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of war is highly automated, highly autonomous,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ability of the entire joint force to project power depends upon our success in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report calls for \u201ctransformative investment\u201d in several critical areas: missile warning and tracking systems, nuclear detonation detection, real-time targeting capabilities, secure communications and battle management, protection against adversary space systems.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that some progress has been made since the Space Force\u2019s creation five years ago, Kendall stressed the urgency of further development. \u201cWe are going to have to do something to counter the militarization of space that China has embarked upon, largely to target our joint force and largely to deny us space capabilities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The assessment builds on strategic planning initiatives that began during the Obama administration and accelerated during Trump\u2019s first term. However, Kendall cautioned that the report\u2019s projections rely on broad assumptions, noting it would be unrealistic to expect detailed quantitative predictions about force structure through 2050.<\/p>\n

Beyond military capabilities, the report emphasizes the need for deeper partnerships with the private sector to leverage commercial and dual-use innovations, reflecting the growing intersection of civilian and military space technology.<\/p>\n

The warning comes as China continues to demonstrate rapid advancement in its military space capabilities, including the development of sophisticated satellite systems and anti-satellite weapons, raising concerns among U.S. military planners about the potential vulnerability of American space assets.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSandra Erwin writes about military space programs, policy, technology and the industry that supports this sector. She has covered the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defense industry for nearly two decades as editor of NDIA\u2019s National Defense…\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Sandra Erwin\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall speaks to officer candidates at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., Dec. 6, 2024. Credit: U.S. Air Force WASHINGTON \u2014 Outgoing Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall delivered a stark warning to Congress in his final weeks in office: The United States risks falling behind China in the military space<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":826506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22453,305],"tags":[7609,5795],"class_list":{"0":"post-826505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chiefs","8":"category-force","9":"tag-chiefs","10":"tag-force"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}