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 Senior Airman Haily Wireman

Special Tactics Pararescuemen Complete Rope, Rescue Training on WWII Battleship

Air Force Special Operations Command

April 15, 2015 | 7:41

Special Tactics pararescuemen, Special Tactics Training Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing, complete confined space training and high-angle rope training, all common scenarios when doing tactical recovery during combat and humanitarian missions, on the retired U.S.S Alabama battleship, Mobile, Ala. The small spaces on the ship simulate the constrained areas in tightly built villages, collapsed buildings or wrecked vehicles and aircraft. The multiple levels of the ship is ideal for high-angle rope training, used to traverse objects or patients across rugged land, over buildings, and down steep inclines with ropes. Special Tactics pararescueman train to go anywhere, anytime for personnel rescue while embedded with a special operations team, such as Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets. Not only are they tactical experts for rescuing people and objects from life-threatening situations, such as mountainsides, earthquake wreckage or underwater shipwrecks, they are also paramedics, performing life-saving measures for special operations forces in all environments. Approximately forty percent of pararescuemen are within Air Force Special Operations Command.