A CONVERSATION WITH GENERAL CHANCE SALTZMAN ON MAINTAINING COMPETITIVE ENDURANCE IN SPACE - The space domain remains crucial to protecting and advancing US and allied strategic imperatives, enabling operations ranging from navigation and communications to missile warning and tracking. Space will only become more central to US military operations as adversaries seek to exploit the United States’ dependence on space-based technologies. Since the US Space Force was established in 2019, China has doubled its number of satellites, rapidly developed its counterspace arsenal, and announced ambitions to establish a new base on the Moon. In this context, the young Space Force faces a challenging path ahead in which it must balance efforts to both maximize its ability to deter crisis in space while also advancing long-term stability and sustainability in the domain.

Earlier this year, Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman released an evolving theory of success for the Space Force titled “Competitive Endurance.” The theory, meant to serve as a starting point for debate, pursues US advantages in space while avoiding escalation to armed conflict. How will the Space Force prepare not only for conflict in space today, but to maintain its edge in the coming decades? This event will explore key priorities for the Space Force in deterring conflict and promoting long-term stability in space.

Chief of Space Operations, General Chance Saltzman, in conversation with Space News Senior Staff Writer Sandra Erwin, discusses his theory of success to maintain the United States’ edge in the space domain amid competition with China.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 11/15/23