AFA's 2008 Air Warfare Symposium Transcripts

Responsive, Assured, Decisive Space Power

General C. Robert Kehler
Commander, Air Force Space Command
AFA Air Warfare Symposium
Orlando, FL
February 21, 2008

General Kehler: They all work for me. [Laughter].

Mike, thanks. Those are the folks from the 45th Space Wing, by the way, in case you didn’t know.

Rent a crowd. It’s kind of like groupies. They follow me around. So that’s pretty cool. [Laughter].

Thanks for inviting me. In fact I was reflecting while I was sitting here a little while ago, this is the first time I’ve ever been invited to anything south of Interstate 70, so this is pretty good. [Laughter].

It’s also nice to see fellow flag officers here, our attaches, distinguished visitors and guests in the audience. What a great time to be an airman. What a great time to be here in Orlando. Thanks.

I promise my voice will clear up here in just a second.

On the occasion of her fifth birthday a little girl asked her parents to take her to Disney World. So they came, got to Space Mountain. Signs everywhere. Danger, caution, warning, heart attack, stroke, and all the stuff that are on those signs at Space Mountain. The father said, do you want to go? Absolutely. He said okay. On they go, she loves it. She liked to so much they get back in line and she goes again. Her sixth birthday, they come back. Right to Space Mountain. Same thing, a couple of times, loves it. Seventh birthday they get there, she gets to the front of the line and absolutely goes rigid. Slams the brakes on. The father says, do you want to go? She said no way. He said why not? Last year you loved it, the year before. She said this year I can read. [Laughter].

There’s some truth to that. This year I can read. I read the Chief’s White Paper, I can tell you that. Fly, fight and win in three interdependent domains where the loss of control in any one will mean the loss of control in all, and the loss of control in all means that you lose, and that we can’t accept.

I would offer to you that we are no longer talking about an Air Force supported by a space and cyber force, we are talking about an air, space and cyber force and I think that the Chief’s vision of the 21st Century Air Force and 21st Century air power is spot on. I for one, speaking for one of those three domains in terms of organize, train and equip, am very excited about how we do that because I believe it is in fact all about cross-domain integration.

Now some of you in here are engineers and scientists and mathematicians, so let me propose, some of you have heard me say this before. Let me propose a new math for you. If the warfighting value of air is one and the warfighting value of space is one, I would submit to you that one plus one does not equal two. One plus one equals 100 maybe, or 1,000 or 10,000, but it does not equal two. Those in the financial industry would call that compounding, but I think it applies here. Certainly the concept applies here.

As we think about how that concept would apply if you add cyberspace to that, one plus one plus one does not equal three.

Every space platform operates in two domains, I would submit. It operates in space and it operates in cyberspace. Every air platform operates in two domains. It operates in the air and it operates in cyberspace. So how we put those three domains together to fly, fight and win is critically important to all of us, and we are working on that very very hard at Air Force Space Command, I can assure you of that.

As part of a joint warfighting team, the Air Force wields power. And we do this to create global vigilance, global reach, and global power through those three domains.

Now one thing that we know for sure and one thing that has changed over the years is that we believe today that we will not only be challenged in the air domain, but we will be challenged in the space and in the cyberspace domain. The evidence is clear.

When we look at the evidence, particularly in the space domain, we can go all the way back to the Cold War. If you go all the way back to the Cold War, we fully expected to be challenged in space. We watched the then Soviet Union practice and develop various weapons to challenge us in space. At the end of the Cold War we thought maybe there would be a peace dividend and that we would not see that kind of activity again. However, what we have seen is a number of disturbing activities that would lead us to conclude from the evidence that we will be challenged in space. Our would-be adversaries have gone to school on us. They know how we use space in our warfighting capabilities and they understand that being able to challenge us there may present to them an asymmetric way to deal with overwhelming American power.

So to ignore that evidence which we have seen in a variety of ways. We saw Saddam Hussein in a very crude attempt to jam GPS. We’ve seen other jamming attempts and in fact around the world with commercial activities and others, regarding satellite communications and the links, really the communication links that we rely on from those satellites. Of course we saw the Chinese test of an anti-satellite weapon. We saw and see other development around the world of other potential threats. So the evidence would tell us that we’ve got to be prepared to deal with a domain in which we will be challenged.

Now the mission of Air Force Space Command I believe is crystal clear, and it is to deliver space and missile capabilities to America and its warfighting commands. We do this in a variety of different ways, and I will tell you much like the discussions that you heard earlier, I think sometimes, and General Renuart mentioned this about NORTHCOM, I think sometimes we have come to take the space piece of our Air Force for granted in such a way that maybe it’s important for me today to lay out for you what I think are some of the building principles that allow us to think about space in the context of the Chief’s White Paper.

We know that space power, just like air power, has shaped the American approach to warfare. It gives our warfighters a decisive advantage. And without space military operations would be far less precise, focused, timely, coordinated, or efficient and much more costly.

Folks have asked me before what happens if we start to remove space power from the way America fights today? What I generally tell them is I think it’s like a reverse time machine. As we would lose space capability we would begin to go back in time and we would find ourselves in a position where we would still continue to fight, of course, but we would fight far differently and with far more resources, far more casualties and far more effort than what we would have to do with space as part of that fight.

Just recently I came back from the CENTCOM AOR, spent some really wonderful time out there with the folks that are deployed, with General North and his team, with the folks in the AOC and with folks at various locations around the AOR. At one of the locations I stopped and I talked to a B-1 crew. The B-1 pilot took me up into the cockpit and we were talking about the B-1 and he said to me, Sir, I know who you are, I know you’re the Commander of Air Force Space Command, so I figured what I better do is talk to you about this B-1 and how space helps me do my job.

Now this is actually what he was telling me. It was unrehearsed when we were having this conversation.

He said, Sir, the more I thought about this the more it struck me that space is a part of every single thing I do in my mission. It has to do with how I plan. I get intelligence information from space. I get mission planning information from space assets. I am able to communicate with others that I need to communicate with over space things once I get to the mission. Of course GPS is a big piece of how we operate. It’s certainly a big piece of how we deliver our weapons. When we’re airborne some of my information comes to me in real time through space links. There are all kinds of things that I’ve been able to determine in terms of where the threats might be, et cetera, et cetera, because of space things. The tanker and I have worked out how we’re going to do rendezvous and where we’re going to meet and all the other things involving GPS and communications activities and some other things that we’re doing there. He went on and on and on. He said I even know that if I come down in hostile territory that space will be part of a space/air/ground team that will come and get me. In fact, he said, I understand that GPS would largely take search out of search and rescue.

I walked out of that airplane thinking to myself, man, have we come a long way in our Air Force. Have we come a long way in our understanding of what it is that space brings to the fight.

The other side of that, when I met with the deployed space folks out there, what I found in them was a group of people now who have in their own way combat experience. What an enormous difference that has made. Young space operators who can now speak the universal language of joint warfighting, something that we have not always been able to do.

The first time I took command of a wing I used to meet with the folks in the wing and I used to say this to them. You know, if 95 percent of the United States military speaks the universal language of joint warfighting and five percent speak space, who do you think is going to change? They would say, well the rest of them will come along eventually. I’d say no, no, no. Let’s go back to the beginning. If 95 percent, you know, we went through this a couple of times. And our Air Force, I believe, has done much in the last ten years to really address that and it is paying off in a big way. I don’t have to have this conversation any more about we have to become part of the fight. We are in the fight.

Here’s the good news. Space is an integral part of the fight. Here’s the bad news. Space is an integral part of the fight. Because the demands on space have gone up. By the way, that’s tongue in cheek it’s bad news. It’s not bad news at all. That’s a very good thing. And that vignette from the theater and my time out there with the space people in the theater have just done nothing but convince me even further that we are on the right track.

I tell this to people all the time. I believe this is true. I think the single most important step, and by the way, the Air Force has taken a lot of steps to make sure that space was integrated into the bigger picture of the United States Air Force. But I believe that the single most important step that was taken was the establishment of the Space Division in the Air Force Weapon School. You heard the Chief this morning say it’s time to do that for UAVs. He couldn’t be more right.

With that step we began to train a generation and then another generation of space weapons instructors who understand, because they now have a PhD equivalent in how to employ their systems to fight and win that has transcended really a lot of our activities throughout the Air Force. And those young weapons officers in many cases are now lieutenant colonels, in some cases junior colonels. So when I go visit units today and talk to them about the role that space has in the air, space and cyberspace power oriented organization that the United States Air Force is in the 21st Century, believe me, it is not a stretch.

The Chief also talked about strategic communications and how important it was to be able to communicate what it is that the United States Air Force does, how it does it, and really what we’re talking about when we do these strategic communications is our people. Our objective to train folks to be space professionals in our Air Force has not diminished. But it isn’t about technical competence only. It’s about tactical competence as well.

So we want space professionals who are technically competent and tactically competent and oriented in a direction that says I’m not necessarily a tool builder, I’m a carpenter. I take these tools and I build something with it, and that’s what we’re looking for out of our space operators today.

So let me do a little strategic communications with you and let me talk to you from my perspective and now Air Force Space Command’s perspective. What’s the adjunct to the Chief’s White Paper? When he said air, space and cyberspace, he’s exactly right. Let me tell you a little bit about what we think in the U.S. Air Force about the space piece so that this might fill in a couple of gaps that help you understand where we’re thinking about ourselves and how we fit.

First, and by the way I’ve written these guiding principles down on a piece of paper that I’ve handed out across our command, and I’m finding that the more I talk about this the more our folks are embracing these very simple guiding principles.

First, the Air Force space mission serves joint forces, the nation and the world at large. I think we often don’t get the credit that we deserve for the national and in some cases international mission that we perform. It’s the United States Air Force and airmen in the United States Air Force who provide assured access to space for our nation. We provide communications, not only for our warfighting forces but our nation, our national leadership for sure. We provide surveillance of the space environment, and in that domain there are an increasing number of objects that are worthy of our attention. And of course, as a piece of the activity that culminated in the intercept last night of the satellite, Air Force Space Command and our space surveillance network and our space situational awareness and our ability to understand the space environment, were all critical and significant players in that activity.

We also do something for the world at large. It’s called GPS. That’s done by airmen of the United States Air Force, launched by airmen right down the road here at Patrick Air Force Base. And if you were to go into their operation center down there, they’ve got a sign on the wall and it says, “Control of the battlespace begins here.” They couldn’t be more right because control of the battlespace does begin on the launch pad, but it extends to low earth orbit, to medium earth orbit, and to geostationary orbit, and we do that day in and day out, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it’s never turned off. None of our space capabilities ever are down for a week or two while we recapitalize or while we modernize. It’s much akin to doing a complete transformation of your television from analog to high definition digital while the TV’s on. And oh by the way, if the TV turns off in that amount of time, 95 percent -- remember, that’s the joint warfighting part -- they’re on your case about where are you.

So we don’t have the luxury of deciding today that we’re not going to provide something for the military, for the warfighters, for the nation, or for the globe. And by the way, we provide that GPS service as an international utility and it’s provided free of charge, which I think is remarkable and says much about the commitment that the United States Air Force has to space.

So we can’t rest on our laurels here. We know we have to be flexible and responsive. We have a number of space programs that are underway to replenish these capabilities in the next 18-24 months. In fact we’re launching a new generation of communication satellites, we’re launching the next generation of GPS satellites. Oh, by the way, we’re launching the next generation of space-based warning satellites. Again, while the TV is on. So that’s an interesting challenge for us. And oh by the way, the professionals in this command are going to meet that challenge.

The second guiding principle is space is one of three interdependent Air Force warfighting domains. I’ve already talked about this, and I think this notion that they are interdependent domains is a powerful one and one that we need to keep foremost in our mind as we go about our business in Air Force Space Command, and more importantly as we think along with my MAJCOM colleagues, across our MAJCOMs. How do Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Force Space Command, Pacific Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, how do we work together across these major commands to have cross-domain integration and thereby cross-domain dominance? It’s an interesting question for us and we’ve got some interesting steps underway to try to help with that.

The third guiding principle is space is a challenging, demanding and contested domain. I already mentioned this as well. We don’t think it’s speculation to assert that a would-be adversary would want to challenge us in one of our areas of greatest advantage so we’ve got to be prepared for that. We are taking steps to be prepared for that to include increasing our ability to protect ourselves, which begins with space situational awareness.

The next guiding principle is also something that falls under Air Force Space Command and it’s something that doesn’t get attention either, but we’ve also seen the risk of not paying attention in this particular area. And this guiding principle is nuclear forces underwrite our nation’s security. If you read in the Chief’s White Paper it says that, “Nuclear deterrence remains the ultimate backstop of our nation’s security.”

The land-based intercontinental ballistic missile force, our land-based deterrent force, remains part of Air Force Space Command, and I for one am glad that it is part of Air Force Space Command.

I have my roots in that business, and tomorrow night at this symposium, the dinner, you will recognize 50 years of continuous ICBM operations. It’s a remarkable legacy. It’s a remarkable legacy of safety, security, surety, and all of the difficult steps that we go through each and every day to operate, maintain, secure and assure our country that they have placed trust and confidence in us and that we understand that trust and confidence, and that that has been well placed with us.

The next guiding principle is space and ICBM forces are inherently globally in their effect. If in fact air, space and cyberspace power are being used together to generate global reach, global vigilance and global power, the common word here is global. And we understand. You don’t have to come to Orlando to be reminded that it’s a small world after all. And if there’s a difference today in the nature of warfare, I would argue that that difference has to do with time and distance and boundaries. So space and ICBM forces, air forces, across the board, are inherently global in their effect.

They transcend national military boundaries. They’re intrinsically and simultaneously tactical and strategic, local and global, which means something about how we view doctrine, about how we view command and control, and about how we view the role that we play as part of a broader joint team.

The next guiding principle is airmen are the core of America’s space team. You saw earlier today with the Airman’s Creed that we have answered our nation’s call, and our space professionals have certainly answered our nation’s call. We serve a national mission. Our skills and expertise are national assets. Since the beginning of the space age Air Force airmen have contributed significantly to the space business of our nation. We are everywhere in the space enterprise. A number of our airmen still hold manned space flight records.

We are in the civil space agencies. We are in commercial space activities. And if you look around industry you find many, many, many people in the space industrial base who have gotten their start and much of their education and training as an airman in the United States Air Force.

So that means something for us. What that means is we have to continue to attract, develop and retain what we are calling battle-ready space professionals. Now I don’t want that to have too sinister a connotation. What I mean is space professionals with a warrior ethos, just as we saw in the videotape. Space professionals who understand that it isn’t just about technical activities and platforms. It’s about flying. It’s about fighting. It’s about winning. And I have absolutely no problem with where I see our space professionals today. We’re spending a lot of time developing those space professionals.

I’ve said to audiences before that I believe the space business in the United States Air Force can be viewed much like the Navy views its submarine force. A unique operating medium that requires unique platforms, that requires unique and specialized technical training to operate, with an understanding of what it means to operate in that domain, but also that can be part of, in the Navy analogy, a task force, a joint task force, a platform that can operate on its own to create effect when required, or as part of a larger joint force. And they do that seamlessly because they understand how they fit into the broader operation.

That’s the model that’s in my head about space professionals and I think you would be very pleased when you work with them today, when you’re around them today, to understand and see that they take this very seriously and they do in fact embrace this notion that they are a part of something that’s much bigger.

They also understand clearly that one plus one plus one plus one equals more than three, and they will be the first to tell you that being able to integrate across the domains of air, space and cyberspace, being able to wield these space capabilities that we have in conjunction with other capabilities. Being able to apply these not just to military purposes but for purposes that in many cases are part of what General Renuart was talking about earlier, part of disaster relief. We find ourselves providing space capability in many places around the globe. And of course the economic benefits of what we do in space all come together in places like Air Force Space Command where our space professionals understand and are willing members of a broader team and who, by the way, insist on being called airmen.

So let me just conclude. My goal here, by the way, if I had 40 minutes with questions and answers, my goal was to go 39 minutes and 47 seconds. So if I’m close to that, somebody wave at me. If I’m not, I’ll just keep making stuff up here until we get to the end.

Actually, it has been a pleasure to come here and talk today. I must tell you that to be part of a group that starts with the Chief, goes to General Renuart, and then includes all of my other MAJCOM colleagues, this is a tough group of people to be a speaker in front of. They are all really terrific speakers and they all have really terrific messages about our United States Air Force. So I’m humbled to be in this job, in this company, and I just want to confirm with you that we’re reaching in Air Force Space Command. We’re going to continue to reach upward. We’re going to continue to reach outward. We’re going to continue to streamline, which we are doing. We’re going to continue to orient ourselves in a direction that will allow us to be a proud part of the 21st Century Air Force contributing to 21st Century air power as part of the air, space and cyberspace force.

Thank you very, very much and I look forward to your questions.

[Applause].

Moderator: Let me start off. If you’ve got questions, we’ve got folks in the aisles, but let me start this off. General Kehler, we’ve got a surprising number of Space Command satellites that are already operating past their expected design lives. In fact a noted speaker at AFA’s last symposium said that some of these birds are old enough to vote.

My question for you, is this a concern or just a pleasant surprise?

General Kehler: Some are old enough to vote. A couple could drink here in the not too distant future as well. [Laughter]. Which ought to tell you something about the age.

This is another good news/bad news story. Here’s the good news. The good news is that I believe that we have turned the corner on the worst of our acquisition issues. Now that does not mean that we don’t still have problems to solve, we do. But we have gone now through a series of 56 successful launches in a row. That’s a record. We have now had five years of on-orbit operations without a premature failure. Also a record. And I think that those speak volumes to the amount of attention that we have been paying to development, acquisition, launch, mission assurance, all the pieces that are required to operate something on orbit and so I’m very very pleased with that. I’m not ready to declare victory yet because just about the time you think you’ve declared victory here, we’ll get bitten with something. But I’m very very pleased with all of that.

Having said that, here’s the good news/bad news part. The good news is that many of our platforms are lasting longer. The bad news is that you can’t go replenish them, for example, with new software or with other new features you would like to put on, particularly given the way technology changes as we are looking at the information age.

So there’s a good news/bad news story here. We’re delighted that things last longer on orbit because as they last longer then clearly we can slow the pace of some of the modernization, we can reschedule launches, we can do things that make this a more efficient way to do business. But I think as we look to the future we’re going to have to come to grips with a new way of developing and deploying space capability because what we know is that it takes us too long to deploy capabilities. And in some cases longer lives on orbit means that it takes us longer to deploy something that we need in the warfighters’ hands.

So I think we’re going to have to come at this a different way as we look at the future. One of the ways that we’re going to do this, and we need to add this as part of our national strategic tool kit regarding space, is operationally responsive space. We need to think about smaller platforms that don’t last as long on purpose, that we can put up there and plan that first of all they won’t cost as much to put there; and second, we can replenish them sooner. Third, it gives us in terms of a contested domain, a way to either reconstitute or replenish or augment, supplement, whatever you want to call it, space capabilities that might be needed by the warfighters.

So I think it’s a good news/bad news story. I’m delighted when these things last longer. I think as we look to the future, though, that may not be, with 10 or 15 or 18 old enough to vote, or 21 old enough to drink, year old satellites may not be the way we want to be in the future.

Moderator: A follow-up question on this one, but focused on ICBMs. We’ve got an ICBM force that is well, approaching Medicare maybe. So in that metaphor, obviously we need to modernize, we need to do some things that set us up for the future. What have we got planned in this arena for the ICBM force?

General Kehler: We’re just about complete with about a $6.5, $7 billion ICBM life extension program which has resulted in a new propulsion system for the Minuteman III, a new guidance system for the Minuteman III, and a new post-boost vehicle, basically an update to the post-boost vehicle for the Minuteman III.

All of those things put together along with security enhancements and other activities that we’ve undertaken have given us great confidence that we can extend the life of Minuteman to 2020. We’re now looking at whether or not we need to do additional investment to extend that life to 2030. I don’t know what the answer to that is. Congress has asked us to take a look at whether or not we could extend the life of Minuteman to 2030.

We’re at the point now where I believe it’s time for us to take a look and begin a study on what a follow-on system would look like. I think if you’re going to extend Minuteman to 2030 there are two questions here. Can you do that? That’s one question to answer. The other question is, should you? And I think that’s an additional question that we’re going to have to grapple with.

Congress has already told us they intend to do in the next year or so another version of a nuclear posture review, or they’ve asked the department to do a nuclear posture review. I suspect that a new administration will want to do some of that review as well. So what I can tell you here today is I am very comfortable that we have done everything required to take Minuteman to 2020. We are looking at what it would take to extend it to 2030. We’re getting advice, by the way, from many of you in this room, from industry, about whether that’s feasible and if so, how you would do that. Then I believe it’s also time for us to engage in this national debate that’s coming about the future of the deterrent force.

I would say one more thing, in my mind’s eye the deterrent force of the future, the land-based deterrent force, is not just a nuclear force. It is a conventional global strike force as well that would complement the Air Force’s new bomber.

So I believe there’s a natural marriage here that enhances our deterrent, and by the way, the combatant commander has specifically asked us to go look at that as something to add to his tool kit.

Moderator: Time for one more question. This one is talking about the wakeup call that China gave us by shooting down its own satellite. What have we learned from that, and have we taken steps to protect our own very essential space forces for the future?

General Kehler: Again, what we’ve learned is that this is not, space is not a sanctuary and we can’t use space as a sanctuary. Our expectation is that we will be challenged in the space domain as we look to the future.

The Chinese ASAT demonstration in and of itself I thought was not in and of itself the one thing that made a difference here. When you take a combination of things, you can go back to 9/11 and look at what an asymmetric attack on critical infrastructure does. We have issues with our ground segment that we have taken steps to address physical security and other vulnerabilities that we uncovered. We have looked at our space segments. Some of our on orbit assets today were very well protected. They were designed to be very well protected. Others are not well protected. In some cases they’re not protected at all. So when you look at that segment, we’ve got work to do there. When you look at the links, there are issues that we’ve got to be concerned with about jamming, et cetera.

I think what the Chinese demonstration did for us was assign go this work some sense of urgency. And I can tell you that we are going after this with some sense of urgency. Space protection is one of our high priorities and space protection begins with our ability to improve our situational awareness.

When we send our fighter pilots into harm’s way we do everything we possibly can to give them situational awareness of that environment that they’re going into. Everything we can tell them about the adversary aircraft. Everything we can learn about adversary tactics, techniques and procedures. Everything we can tell them about the air picture on the time they’re going to go engage the enemy. Everything that we can understand about the threats. The information that we can pass to them, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and that is a large package of things that we call situational awareness. We need to do the same thing for space starting with we need better foundational intelligence. We need to fix some of the gaps that we have in our space surveillance. We need to do better in terms of what we can see, discrimination of size, shape, et cetera. We need to know more about enemy intent. The list goes on.

We are working on that with a high sense or urgency and priority. Following that we are looking very hard at the additional steps we’re going to have to take to protect our space assets, the ground links and the space segments.

Finally, we’re also looking at, the Army has a wonderful saying. When we separated from the Army there are a couple of things I wish we’d brought along. This saying is one of them. “If the enemy is in range, so are you.”

So I’m very concerned that we are mindful that adversaries can be using space against us or against our allies or against our foreign troops. And we need to be very mindful of that and we need to think very carefully about how we will deal with those kinds of issues in the future.

Moderator: General Kehler. Thank you very much.

[Applause].

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