U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has emphasized during her keynote speech at a forum hosted by Executive Mosaic‘s Potomac Officers Club that the U.S. needs to establish readiness for potential conflict in the space domain.
The service branch said Wednesday Wilson called for increased resources and flexibility in procurement in order to meet space requirements for joint operations and counter the technology development efforts of adversaries.
She noted that the creation of the Space Warfighting Construct and a new deputy chief of staff for space position, as well as the proposed 20-percent budget increase to fund space programs, will work to help elevate and integrate the space mission.
“Integration of domains at high speed is absolutely vital to the success in future combat operations,” Wilson told the audience at POC’s Space: Innovations, Programs and Policies Summit.
“That means air, space, ground, sea, undersea and cyber — the nation that rapidly integrates all of those domains will inflict surprise on their enemy and prevail.”
The POC space forum was held Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and featured Wilson with other officials such as NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot; Maj. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of the Air Force Space Command; and George Nield, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration.
