On today’s program, sponsored by GE Aerospace, Gen. Ken “Cruiser” Wilsbach, the 24th chief of staff of the US Air Force, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his priorities, lessons from the Ukraine and Iran wars that are shaping air power; Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean capabilities that are shaping how the Air Force plans, operates, trains and equips; whether the service has sufficient margin to deter China and if necessary defeat it given concerns about weapon stocks; what kind of long-range strike and anti-air weapons the force will need to “outstick” adversaries; integration of short, medium and long-range unmanned systems; what happens if lawmakers don’t approve the service’s spending request; and whether airmen need the kind of nuclear training they received during the Cold War as the force presses ahead with modernizing its nuclear forces.
