Gen. Chance Saltzman, in what can generously be described as his farewell mic drop, warned on July 15 that if war breaks out in space, everyone's satellites are going to have a bad time - whether they asked for it or not. Speaking at the Global Air & Space Chiefs' Conference in London, the outgoing chief of the U.S. Space Force argued that the best way to avoid a space war is to be really, really good at winning one.
"Whether we want to be in the combat zone or not, orbital mechanics will put all of our space capabilities in a space war zone," Saltzman said, reminding the audience that physics doesn't care about your non-combatant status. "We will share the consequences. Therefore, we should share the responsibility."
Saltzman, who is retiring next month after 35 years in uniform, used his final public address to sum up nearly four years of trying to convince everyone that space is not just a nice place to put GPS satellites. Under his leadership, the Space Force finally stopped trying to prove it's not the Air Force and started focusing on preparing for a fight with China and Russia, who have been busy building things that can jam, disable, or outright destroy satellites.
The result is what the service calls "space control": making sure the U.S. and its allies can still use space while ensuring the bad guys can't. Saltzman's "Competitive Endurance" strategy emphasized avoiding operational surprise, denying adversaries the benefit of striking first, and developing counterspace capabilities that don't create a junkyard of orbital debris - because nothing says "winning" like making low Earth orbit unusable for everyone.
In London, Saltzman advised military commanders to stop obsessing over what might deter an adversary and instead focus on building forces that can actually defeat an attack. "If we have the capabilities to do this, it will be seen as a combat credible force, which should create a deterrent effect," he said. "And if it doesn't, we will be prepared to effectively respond to the aggression."
Saltzman acknowledged that some problems - like buying weapons quickly, connecting allied systems, and sharing classified info - might never be fully solved. "I've come to appreciate that not all challenges must be solved," he said. "Some challenges should simply be managed." He called for stable funding, sustained R&D, and long-term goals that survive changes in leadership.
On the topic of partisan politics, Saltzman described military leaders as "the ballast in the ship" - the thing that slows things down but keeps the vessel from capsizing when the storm hits. "In the hyper-political environment we find ourselves," he said, military leaders must "think long term" and act as a calming presence, resisting the urge to offer easy answers or politically convenient assessments.
Saltzman's nominated successor, Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, will take over a Space Force that's bigger, better funded, and more central to Pentagon war planning than the one Saltzman inherited. But it's still working on fielding the weapons, personnel, and organizational structure needed to fight in a domain that was long treated as a peaceful sanctuary. "After 35 years of reflection," Saltzman concluded, "I believe this is the best contribution that we can make to international peace and stability."