VIDEO ON DEMAND

Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman Calls for New Space Strategy

Originally aired on: April 19, 2023

Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations with the United States Space Force, called for a pivot to new strategies in orbit during a speech at the 38th Space Symposium.

“What we have done and how we have done it have worked and worked well,” Saltzman said. “But I fear we think it will work well forever. This form of complacency might allow us to think that our tried-and-true methods and mindsets might will be sufficient to address new challenges. Or perhaps we think the challenges aren’t new, not fundamentally different. Perhaps we think we are just riding along a predictable, linear evolution in the space domain, and we can adjust in the margins as we go and keep pace. From my perch, I believe this is incorrect.”

After the speech, changes were rapid and evident, with the Space Force offering near $1 billion in contracts to commercial space firms to guarantee services to troops on the planet below if a war reaches space.

Speaker

Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, USSF