Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said March 19, 2025, that the Air Force and Space Force will be instrumental in both deterring and engaging in future military conflicts.
He remarked on the value of the two service branches while speaking at the Department of the Air Force Summit - a gathering of senior leadership from across each force - held at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
"The future of deterrence … for this nation truly does reside in this room," Hegseth told those in attendance. "It's our airpower, the next generation of it and our ability to project it that will be the decisive factor in whether or not we truly deter our peer [adversaries] of the 21st century," he continued.
In reference to the threat posed by China, Hegseth told the senior leaders in the room that the decisions they make and the manner in which they implement, utilize and match threats to capabilities will determine whether "we live in a [century] dominated by the U.S. or dominated by the Chinese."
"I hope that is the sense of urgency that exists in this room; it's certainly what we think about every day in the secretary's office," he said.
When asked for his thoughts on the future of the space domain, Hegseth said it was the domain of the future.
"I feel like there's no way to ignore the fact that the next and the most important domain of warfare will be the space domain. ... So, you're going to see far more investment from this administration into that domain, both offensively and defensively ... because that's where we can continue to maintain an advantage," Hegseth said.
He added that, in war-gaming simulations, the outcomes have often been affected by the space domain-related capabilities each side of the competition had at their disposal.
"There are strategic things that can be done that change the entire [warfighting] calculus that no one else is paying attention to, and I would anticipate that [the space domain] is one of those for us," Hegseth said.
Toward the end of his appearance at the summit, Hegseth was asked about the Defense Department's recent efforts to realign its budget with national security priorities and whether those efforts would result in significant changes.
"I think we spend a lot of time - understandably and correctly so - talking about efficiencies, talking about [the Department of Government Efficiency], talking about audits [and] talking about reprioritizations, and we're going to keep doing that because we need to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars," Hegseth said.
"But [President Donald J. Trump] has repeatedly said that we're going to rebuild [the military] … and the Air Force will be a huge part of how that [military] gets funded," he added.
