Purpose. This document charts Air Force Space Command’s flight path to the future. In consonance with the Air Force Strategic Plan and the Air Force Chief of Staff’s White Paper (The Nation’s Guardians, America’s 21st Century Air Force), it defines the strategic way forward that shapes how Air Force space and missile capabilities are conceived, acquired, employed and executed in an increasingly complex, dynamic and challenging global environment. To focus clearly on the needs of today and tomorrow, this document:
States the vision and mission of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC),
Affirms the guiding principles that underpin that vision and mission,
Articulates the priorities and goals that shape our actions, and
Links our actions to broader Air Force strategic direction.

Commander’s Intent. The United States Air Force provides Global Vigilance, Global Reach and Global Power in and through the domains of air, space and cyberspace. Over thirty-nine thousand men and women serving in AFSPC’s Numbered Air Forces, acquisition and innovation centers, and management headquarters are responsible and accountable for USAF activities in the space domain. We will execute our mission and assigned tasks while confronting the challenges of the future.

Vision. America’s space leaders…delivering responsive, assured, decisive space power. The USAF provides air, space and cyberspace power as part of a dominant joint warfighting team. Since the air, space and cyberspace domains are increasingly interdependent, in future conflicts loss of control in any one could lead to loss of control in all. Recent events suggest we must expect to be challenged not only in the air domain, but in and through space and cyberspace as well. We in AFSPC must posture to meet tomorrow’s challenges by ensuring space power is more responsive, is always assured, that it contributes decisively, and is developed and wielded by military and civilian space professionals who are recognized leaders in both the space domain and in joint warfighting operations.

Mission. Deliver space and missile capabilities to America and its warfighting commands. The United States Air Force exists to fly, fight and win—to achieve strategic, operational and tactical objectives—unhindered by time, distance or geography. The Air Force’s mission is to “deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests—to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace.” The Air Force has long led the Nation’s military space efforts and AFSPC today delivers space power to United States Strategic Command, Joint Force Commanders around the globe, the Services, the intelligence community, civil agencies, commercial entities and allies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Guiding Principles. These principles shape our perspectives and underpin our vision and mission.
The USAF space mission serves joint forces, our Nation and the world at large. Our Nation has entrusted the Air Force and AFSPC with advocating, acquiring and operating capabilities that are vital to our National security, economic growth, public safety and welfare. The men and women of AFSPC help protect our homeland and interests abroad with space and ground-based missile warning systems; connect national leaders with secure global satellite communications; offer medium and heavy space lift and range capabilities to place military, intelligence, civil and commercial satellites in orbit; keep watch on the space domain by tracking over 17,000 space objects; provide planners and commanders with critical environmental information; and deliver persistent position, navigation and timing signals from our Global Positioning System, which provides multiple military benefits as well as a free, international utility. Many of these space systems are also called upon for help in disaster relief and search and rescue operations, at home and abroad.

Nuclear forces underwrite our Nation’s security. Nuclear weapons have never been used against the United States and threats to use them have always been deterred. Nuclear deterrence remains the ultimate backstop of our security, dissuading our opponents and assuring our allies through extended deterrence. Our Nation’s security relies heavily on the remarkable attributes of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force and the dedication and professionalism of those who proudly stand watch with that system. In 1993, AFSPC accepted the historic responsibility of securing, maintaining, operating and supporting America’s ICBMs. We remain dedicated to ensuring a credible, safe and combat-ready ICBM force that convinces potential adversaries of our unwavering commitment to defend our Nation, its allies and friends.

Space is one of three interdependent USAF warfighting domains. Today, Air Force operations extend across three mutually-supporting and reciprocally-enabling domains of air, space and cyberspace. As a result, Airmen bring distinctive perspectives and unique capabilities to influence targets and actions anywhere on the planet. The result is a decisive joint military advantage, which will erode if we do not increasingly integrate air, space and cyberspace domains. Our Airmen who are experts in the space domain will play a key role in that integration as they build upon a proud heritage to meet the challenges of a dynamic future.

Space and ICBM forces are inherently global in their effect. AFSPC delivers capabilities that transcend national and military boundaries and are intrinsically and simultaneously tactical and strategic, local and global. The men and women of this Command thus have a global perspective that influences the way we command and control our forces and the way we provide and present them to United States Strategic Command. At the same time, we recognize the unique space requirements of U.S. Geographic Combatant Commanders around the world, and know that we must provide Joint Force Commanders with the ability to see, know and decisively act across all warfighting domains. If our success is to continue, we will have to relentlessly improve our systems and procedures—particularly our space command and control frastructure.

Like airpower, space power shapes the U.S. approach to warfare. Contemporary American warfare is based on global vigilance, reach and power. America’s joint forces today are interconnected, have global cognizance, and can produce swift and precise effects that provide overwhelming and decisive results with minimum collateral damage. Our increasingly net-centric, joint expeditionary force operates with smaller forward footprints and a greater dependence on reachback organizations. Space capabilities shape this American approach to warfare, are inextricably embedded in an ever-more effective arsenal of modern weaponry and are threaded throughout the fabric of the Joint warfighting network. Without space, military operations would be far less precise, focused, timely, coordinated or efficient and much more costly in every respect. AFSPC will work ceaselessly to deliver to the joint team the space capabilities they need.

Space is a challenging, demanding and contested domain. Space acquirers, developers and operators must be technically astute and tactically competent to ensure mission success in the space domain. While necessary, technical competence alone is not sufficient for 21st Century challenges. Today, AFSPC’s people must be adequately armed with a warrior ethos and our space forces must be prepared to operate within an increasingly contested battlespace. A prerequisite to mission success requires striking the right balance among several areas to include: establishing a comprehensive space situational awareness (SSA) architecture; enhancing our means to command, control and protect space forces; operating systems that can provide assured services in a contested domain; and arming our space experts with the requisite technical and warfighting skills to respond appropriately to adversary actions.

Airmen are the core of America’s space team. The Airmen and civilians of AFSPC are space professionals who have answered their Nation’s call. We serve a National mission and our skills and expertise are National assets. Since the beginning of the space age, Airmen have contributed significantly to the National space enterprise. While Airmen are serving the military space mission today in AFSPC and the joint commands, many other Airmen are working elsewhere in the government within national security and civil space organizations. Airmen continue to have key roles in NASA, and several hold manned space flight records. Commercial space companies and the space industry also abound with space professionals who gained training and experience while serving our Air Force.

Priorities and Goals. Air Force priorities are AFSPC priorities. We will pursue all of our goals and balance priorities as needed to guarantee success.

Priority—Win the war on terror…while preparing for the next war

Goal—Maintain perfection as the standard for nuclear operations, maintenance, security and support. In AFSPC, providing a credible, safe and secure strategic deterrent through our ICBM force is the most important thing we do. We have defined perfection for ourselves through tough standards—which have been tested and proven for five decades. We follow these standards to the letter and focus on structured, intensive and perfection-oriented training for our maintenance, security and operations personnel. We will never take our responsibilities or our Nation’s trust and confidence for granted.

Goal—Ensure mission success while delivering planned capability improvements. Each day, AFSPC professionals command, control, maintain, sustain, support, deploy and secure our space and ICBM forces. Joint force commanders and the forces they lead rely on the capabilities provided by AFSPC and our operational commitment to them and our other mission partners will never falter. In addition to these operational commitments, we will also meet our planned program commitments to field and sustain leading-edge space capabilities in the near-term, on time and on cost. Further, to ensure our Nation retains its advantage in space we will develop, acquire, launch, operate and sustain space and missile systems as integral tasks that we will accomplish smartly and prudently as a military, government and industry team.

Goal—Improve integration across the air, space and cyberspace domains. Integration across air, space and cyberspace is more than combining and disseminating data among interrelated architectures. AFSPC will work with the other Air Force major commands and domain experts to develop shared strategic plans, operational concepts and architectures, doctrine, as well as tactics, techniques and procedures for the next conflict—one where emerging technologies in air, space and cyberspace domains can be leveraged and mutually supported within a joint construct.

Priority—Develop and care for Airmen and their families…to maintain our competitive advantage

Goal—Attract, develop and retain “battle-ready” space professionals. AFSPC will continue to be a leader in attracting, developing and retaining Airmen from the active and reserve components with the professional space skills needed to succeed. Our space-experienced Airmen and civilians will be technically competent and operationally and tactically proficient—all the while embodying an expeditionary warfighting ethos that is unique to the profession of arms. To maintain our Air Force’s competitive advantage, this Command will invest in a workforce with agile minds that are able to respond quickly to technological change. Working with our partners in Air Education and Training Command, academia and elsewhere, we will educate, train and cultivate experts in the space domain who are skilled in integrating with other warfighting domains and who are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Similarly we will ask our professionals to help improve the overall space awareness of our warfighting partners by sharing our space knowledge in joint professional military education curricula, exercises and training. To retain these Airmen and their service to the country, we will offer progressive, challenging and exciting career development opportunities. Furthermore, we will intensify our efforts to grow leaders who will help shape the debate and construct the future of our Nation’s strategic deterrent. We must also recognize the critical roles that our families play as extended members of our team. In AFSPC, we will extend our Air Force’s wingman culture to our families, to help nurture success on the home front.

Priority—Recapitalize and modernize our aircraft, satellites and equipment…to optimize the military utility of our systems and to better meet 21st Century challenges

Goal—Increase space protection capabilities. The USAF and AFSPC play a key role in defending the Nation’s military, intelligence, civil and commercial space capabilities. We must increase space situational awareness while we address operational and physical vulnerabilities in our space, ground and link segments. Across our mission areas the challenge is to find an affordable pathway to protect space capabilities that strikes the right balance among awareness, hardening, countermeasures and reconstitution. Working with our strategic partners, this Command will develop and execute a comprehensive, yet measured and balanced, space protection strategy.

Goal—Improve the strategic acquisition, delivery and sustainment of space capabilities. In today’s world of rapid technological advancement and proliferation, we cannot afford to do business as usual when it comes to delivering space capabilities. We require a new strategy for how we develop, deliver and sustain space systems that is more than an incremental progression of acquisition processes and management methods. Such a strategy requires a paradigm shift with an end-state that deploys needed space capabilities more quickly than in the past while still executing efficient, business-like acquisition practices.

Goal—Sustain AFSPC’s enduring missions and mature emerging missions. To better meet 21st Century challenges, AFSPC will recapitalize its force to sustain enduring space force enhancement capabilities while designing a future force to ensure flexible, responsive capabilities in a contested domain. This will require us to increase our focus on space control and space support capabilities. Fully recognizing we do not currently have a capability to perform maintenance or repairs on orbital assets, we will protect and reinvigorate satellite constellations to provide the level of utility expected by users all over the globe. Additionally, AFSPC will work with appropriate government agencies to explore opportunities for enhanced allied and international partnerships.

Priority—Enable the future AFSPC must also reach upward and outward as a valued member of the larger space enterprise. This unique AFSPC priority and goals will help ensure we move to the future with a leadership perspective.

Goal—Enhance AFSPC’s leadership role. We cannot realize our vision from the confines of AFSPC facilities. We will actively engage with our mission and strategic partners in order to become an effective partner and a recognized place to turn to for space experience and expertise. Furthermore, being a valued member of this broader team requires our Command to organize effectively and to exhibit courage, accountability, expertise, unity of action and responsiveness in everything we do while living the USAF core values of integrity, service and excellence.

Goal—Emphasize the national importance of Air Force Space missions. We will strategically communicate the national, and often times international, importance of our mission and will collaborate with organizations across the global space enterprise and joint community to exploit mutual interests and leverage partnerships that yield an economy-of-effort benefit for all.

Conclusion. Every member of Air Force Space Command shares the privilege of serving our Nation and its Air Force. Thank you for your professionalism, dedication and service to AFSPC, the United States Air Force and our Nation. It is my honor to serve with you and to share your pride in what you and those before you have accomplished. AFSPC provides the most capable and remarkable space force the world has ever known. Our challenge is to make sure that those who follow us will be able to say the same.

With leadership and commitment we will succeed!

C. ROBERT KEHLER
General, USAF
Commander