The “secret is out” about the US and allied reliance on space, and the things we get from space that give us “a qualitative and quantitative edge over adversaries also makes space an irresistible target,” the Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space said Feb. 25 at AWS16. To guard against potential attacks, the US is trying to improve resilience by improving space situational awareness, optimizing its space architecture for effectiveness and reliance instead of just efficiency, and changing the way it operates in space, Winston Beauchamp said. Space has been “a peaceful, benign domain for quite a while,” Lt. Gen. John Raymond, USAF’s deputy chief of staff for operations, said. “That is clearly not the case today.” One of the biggest holes USAF needed to plug was partnerships, Raymond said, so it has been working on partnerships with the intelligence community through the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, on commercial partnerships with a commercial integration cell at the Joint Space Operations Center, and with international partners. “We’ve got to get better at that … and we’re working hard to develop those partnerships,” he said.
Now Is the Time to Boost CCA Investment
June 3, 2026
The Air Force wants about $1 billion to move Collaborative Combat Aircraft into production in fiscal 2027 and accelerate the introduction of this game-changing technology. Congress should support that objective.