Key leaders from across the U.S. military and defense industry will gather next week just outside Washington to help cement America’s “decisive edge” over its adversaries in the air, space and cyber domains, at a moment when growing threats and raging conflicts around the world are colliding with unprecedented leaps forward in technology.
This week’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, sponsored and organized by the Air & Space Forces Association and held at Maryland’s Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, is one of the nation’s largest gatherings of military personnel and defense-sector leaders.
The event’s tagline, “Air and Space Power: America’s Decisive Edge,” is a nod to the great power competition the U.S. finds itself in against rivals such as China. It’s also a recognition of the need for the Pentagon and its private-sector partners to quickly field new cutting-edge tools such as next-generation drones and manned aircraft, satellites and other space assets, new offensive and defense capabilities in cyberspace, electronic warfare weapons, the proposed Golden Dome missile shield, and other initiatives spanning the three domains.
Leading Defense Department officials are scheduled to speak at the conference, including Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman and dozens of others.
Leaders from some of the nation’s top defense companies told The Washington Times they aim to use the conference as a platform to showcase existing capabilities and also to offer something of a sneak preview of their potential parts in the forthcoming Golden Dome, President Trump’s ambitious proposal to protect the entire continental U.S. from missile attacks.
“Our goal during the conference is to showcase the multi-domain solutions we bring in sensing, connectivity and effects, in the effort to enable air and space superiority for the Air Force,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Gould, vice president, global business development, at major defense company L3Harris.
“The theme for this year’s show is air and space superiority,” he said in an exclusive interview on the latest episode of the Threat Status weekly podcast. “And we certainly want to showcase those capabilities that support that. But in addition to those capabilities, we’re going to have a pretty prominent audio-visual presentation of the capabilities we bring in support of Golden Dome. We’re going to show you specifics on the sensing side of the house, on the connectivity side of the house and on the effects side of the house. And together we’re going to demonstrate how strong of support we give the department.”
Indeed, the Golden Dome project will be one of the hottest topics at the conference. Companies such as L3Harris and dozens of others are eager to secure a prominent spot as part of the project.
Leaders in the Defense Department — which Mr. Trump has given the secondary name “War Department” — reportedly received a briefing this week on the architecture plan for the $175 billion Golden Dome. Gen. Michael Guetlein, the administration’s point man for the project, also reportedly briefed congressional leaders in recent days.
Golden Dome, the Trump administration’s signature defense and technology initiative, is viewed as critical to protecting the homeland from adversaries such as Russia and China. Both of those nations have highly advanced missile programs. China is expected to expand its arsenal of 600 hypersonic missiles to as many as 4,000 by 2035, according to U.S. government estimates. Russia is expected to have 1,000 hypersonic weapons within a decade.
Mr. Trump has ordered the Pentagon to complete the Golden Dome before he leaves office in January 2029. The project is expected to integrate advanced space-based interceptors with existing missile defense capabilities, likely including Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, anti-ballistic missile defense batteries. The “layered defense” system of space-based interceptors and ground-based missile defense tools mean the U.S. would have multiple shots at any incoming missile.
Top defense companies, almost all of which will be represented at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference, are angling to be part of the effort and secure potentially lucrative Golden Dome contracts, though no such contracts have yet been awarded.
Modernizing American air power
Pentagon leaders have used the days leading up to the conference to hammer home another critical message: The U.S. Air Force must change, and that change is already underway.
For example, Lt. Gen. David A. Harris, the deputy chief of staff at Air Force Futures, recently explained why the approaches of decades past are no longer sufficient.
“No longer can the Air Force rely on Bagram-style air bases as sanctuaries, thanks to anti-access and area-denial capabilities developed by China and others,” he wrote in a recent column for the news outlet Defense One, referring to the sprawling Bagram base that served as the center of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years.
Anti-access and area-denial capabilities, or A2/AD, refers to the combination of defensive systems, artillery, radar and other tools to deny an enemy the ability to occupy or move through a specific area of land, air or sea. China is widely expected to employ such a strategy in the event of a future conflict with the U.S. in the Pacific, perhaps in the event of a Chinese invasion of the island democracy Taiwan.
That new warfighting reality, Gen. Harris said, means the Air Force must be quicker and more agile.
“To deter and defeat adversaries, the service must focus on agility, adaptability and operating with a smaller footprint in austere environments. Leaders must refine options for getting into theater to generate tempo and seize initiative. In short, the Air Force must return to its expeditionary roots — a critical change that is already underway,” he said. “In today’s contested operating environment, agility, adaptability, judgment and innovation are as critical as aircraft and munitions. Without boldness at the operational edge and the ability to execute mission command, the Air Force will remain tethered to outdated methods. That risks ceding strategic ground to adversaries who are more agile and less constrained.”
To help stay ahead of those adversaries, the U.S. also is in the midst of a major modernization of its nuclear triad, the country’s nuclear capabilities based on land, at sea and in the air. One panel discussion at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference will focus on the “imperative” to move ahead with the Sentinel program, the Air Force initiative to replace aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the B-21 stealth bomber program.
The nuclear-capable B-21, manufactured by big defense contractor Northrop Grumman, is viewed as a crucial piece of the Air Force’s modernization and of its slate of future capabilities. Gen. Allvin recently described it as “a cornerstone of our strategic nuclear modernization.”
A second B-21 Raider test aircraft arrived at Edwards Air Force Base in California last week as the service moves into more advanced stages of testing, including those dealing with critical mission systems and weapons integration.
