Reoptimization for Great Power Competition

“I’m extremely proud of the Space Force and all the good it has accomplished. But, as good as we are, as much as we’ve done, as far as we’ve come, it’s not enough. We are not yet optimized for Great Power Competition.”

~ Chief of Space Operations
Gen. Chance Saltzman

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force was a direct response to threats arising from Great Power Competition in the space domain. Nevertheless, our legacy roots leave us sub-optimized for the security environment confronting us today, and we must finish fine-tuning the service to continue meeting its National Defense Strategy responsibilities

In early 2024, the Department of the Air Force unveiled sweeping plans for reshaping, refocusing, and reoptimizing the Air Force and Space Force to ensure continued supremacy in their respective domains while better posturing the services to deter and, if necessary, prevail in an era of Great Power Competition. Through a series of 24 DAF-wide key decisions, four core areas which demand the Department’s attention will be addressed: Develop People, Generate Readiness, Project Power and Develop Capabilities.

The space domain is no longer benign; it has rapidly become congested and contested.

We must enhance our capabilities, develop Guardians for modern warfare, prepare for the high intensity fight, and strengthen our power projection to thrive and win in this new era of Great Power Competition.

Video by Kevin D Schmidt

Nelson Dellis - Memory Conversation Part 3

Air Force Research Laboratory

Jan. 19, 2022 | 01:00:47

In this edition of QuEST, Memory Champion Nelson Dellis continues his discussion on memory athletics, memory palaces, and person-action-object encoding methods.

Key Moments and Questions in the video include:
Nelson and Kevin discuss memory demonstration - memory palace
Nelson walks through how to encode and store a deck of cards
Speed Cards (name of the event) - current record 12.74 seconds - uses the system
Nelson explains:
Scored on number correct and then time if all are correct
52 cards - turn each value of each card into an image - make more memorable
Create memory palace
Nelson uses (Dominic O’Brien’s system) - each numeric value a phonetic sound
Card values - Ace=A, 2=B, etc
Card suits - Hearts=H, Clubs=C, Diamonds=D, and Spades=S
Encode the alphabet from the cards with an intuitive image
52 images with 52 cards, will need 52 locations for memory palace;
Chunking the information into sets of three, i.e. person-action-object (PAO) will minimize the number of locations within a memory palace
Nelson recommends encoding people first for card memorization
How to encode sets of three cards in PAO
Complicated encoding systems for card pairs
Decisions on updating memory palace images

Case Number AFRL-2024-2589