Wilsbach lays out strategy to counter adversaries and bolster Air Force success

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach used his first major public address since taking the job in November to outline how the service plans to outpace fast-moving adversaries by sharpening readiness, accelerating modernization, and strengthening support for Airmen and their families. Speaking Feb. 23 at the Air and Space Forces Association’s 2026 Warfare Symposium to a standing-room-only audience of service members, industry leaders, and national security officials, he framed the agenda around the service’s core mission of “flying and fixing.”

“Our adversaries are designing their strategies around speed – speed of decision, movement and mass,” Wilsbach said in his keynote. “They believe they can move faster than we can respond, complicate our choices and force us into reaction instead of initiative. They are betting that distance, complexity and bureaucracy will slow us down. It is a serious challenge, and it demands urgency and unity of effort.”

Wilsbach anchored his remarks in the credo that, “As an Air Force, flying and fixing aircraft is the most important thing we do.” He added, “… When we fix, we can fly. It allows us to get the reps and sets we need to build proficiency and combat credibility. And when our Airmen are prepared, we provide a deterrent value. If that deterrence fails, we are ready to fight and win decisively.”

On modernization, he said the service must refresh an aging fleet while preserving near-term combat credibility. “We are making deliberate, long-term decisions that secure our dominance. These decisions must be fully resourced, to prevent us from passing today’s readiness challenges to tomorrow’s Airmen.” That approach includes “fight-tonight” capability through a faster, more focused acquisition system—“First, we will ensure we have fight-tonight capability” and “so getting platforms from concept to employment as quickly as possible is our focus”—and a longer view that requires “building agility and adaptability into these programs so they can stay relevant for a future fight.”

He pointed to programs he said are benefiting from that strategy. “The F-47, the world’s first 6th-generation fighter, remains on track to fly soon.” He also said the B-21 was delivered on schedule and is slated to be on the ramp at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 2027. Wilsbach cited progress on Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the T-7’s introduction into service, and said the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, after earlier troubles, is now moving in the right direction.

Translating strategy into credible combat power, he said, depends on the entire force executing to standard every day. “Flying and fixing is about the maintainers generating aircraft, the weapons troops loading with precision, intel sharpening the picture and defenders securing the flight line,” he said. “It’s tankers extending their range, planners stitching the timeline together, command and control assets communicating clearly and providing timely information to our shooters.”

To illustrate the point, Wilsbach spotlighted Airmen across specialties. He praised F-16 squadron commander Lt. Col. William “Skate” Parks—recipient of both a Silver Star and Bronze Star—saying Parks “understands that it’s far more than the F-16 pilot that ensures mission success. Instead, it was the collective effort it took to launch one combat sortie.” He also recognized missileers Lts. Harrison Martin and Alyssa Vasquez. “They prove their competence and hold each other accountable daily. I saw it back in November when I was at F. E. Warren,” he said, adding, “The missileers up there and throughout our Air Force know their stuff and make the difficult look routine.”

Wilsbach highlighted Master Sgt. Dylan Ashley and his airfield repair and maintenance team for their direct link to readiness, and singled out Tech. Sgt. Nikolis Hyatt of Barksdale Air Force Base for sustaining the B-52 fleet. “Tech. Sgt. Hyatt thrives on turning broken jets into fully mission capable aircraft,” he said, noting of Ashley that he “doesn’t just direct, he leads from the front. Dylan always feels at home getting the job done with his fellow ‘Dirt Boyz.’”

His definition of “fixing,” he added, extends beyond aircraft. He pointed to Kadena Air Base laboratory technicians Capt. Jessica Yett and Staff Sgt. Duy Dang, who process hundreds of samples weekly in support of force health. “They have a combined 37 years of service taking care of Airmen and use that experience to resolve issues before they become big problems,” Wilsbach said. “That’s what ‘taking care of Airmen and families’ looks like; solving problems and building conditions for sustained readiness.”

The Air Force’s edge, he concluded, rests on steady, disciplined performance at every echelon. “Quiet professionals who simply showed up every day and did difficult things. They didn’t start extraordinary. They became extraordinary through discipline, grit and commitment,” he said.