Space Force chief Schiess lays out priorities to boost combat power

Gen. Douglas Schiess, the U.S. Space Force’s new Chief of Space Operations, used his first major public appearance since taking the job to lay out three priorities aimed at hardening the service’s combat edge and deepening its integration with the rest of the military. Speaking Sept. 15 at the 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, just 12 days after assuming the top uniformed role, he outlined lines of effort to “Forge the Guardian Ethos,” “Arm and Grow the Guardian Force,” and “Integrate Guardian Power at Scale.”

Schiess cast the Guardian ethos as the foundation, anchored in the service’s values of Character, Connection, Commitment and Courage, and emphasized the idea that Guardians share a common identity before their individual specialties. “The Space Force acts together as one Guardian team—a military force uniquely trained and equipped to deliver unparalleled space warfighting advantage,” he said.

On building combat power, Schiess warned that the Space Force faces fast-moving adversaries developing counterspace threats and argued for accelerating capability delivery and force growth. “Today’s advantage cannot be assumed for tomorrow. We face determined and credible adversaries who are building and fielding counterspace systems at incredible speeds to target directly the United States’ space advantage,” he said. “That is why we don’t just monitor the domain. We stand ready to defend it.”

Echoing remarks earlier in the conference by Department of the Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, Schiess said the service operates defensive weapons on orbit. “Today, Guardians operate on-orbit weapons that can defend the Joint Force against space-enabled attacks,” Schiess said. “We will make disciplined and responsible choices about how we build and sustain our combat advantage, which means scaling our ability to respond to threats.”

He pointed to acquisition reforms and organizational alignment as essential to getting new capabilities to the field, citing a recent VICTUS HAZE mission that went from launch order to on-orbit response in 17 hours through close coordination with industry and multiple Space Force units. “Space Systems Command, our industry partners, and Combat Forces Command proved to the world that if an adversary targets the United States Space Force, we have the capability to deliver a swift response and we are going to continue working on getting faster and faster,” Schiess said.

For integrating space power at scale, Schiess urged putting space experts on the front lines with combatant commands and described a Guardian who deployed to the CENTCOM region with the 42nd Electronic Warfare Detachment and executed critical non-kinetic fires under missile attack during Operation Epic Fury. “Our components, notably at U.S. Central Command and Space Command, with support from components at European Command and Pacific Command, demonstrated that Guardians are not supporting from the sidelines as a ‘nice to have.’ We are delivering spacepower directly into the fight as a ‘need to have.’”

Schiess also pledged to sustain a pipeline of trained Guardians and to bolster support for families, noting he and his wife, Debbie, are focused on easing stress points for the force. “We are fully committed to finding the solutions,” he said. “We want Guardians to step into the fight with absolute confidence knowing that our families are taken care of and secure.”

He closed by framing the agenda around deterrence. “Deterrence is strongest when we have a credible force and the resolve to use it. That is what the Space Force brings to you…by delivering space superiority and by ensuring we get after our nation’s interests in, from and to space.”