Air Combat Command General Discusses Next-Generation Air Superiority

View Online Air Combat Command General Discusses Next-Generation Air Superiority March 5, 2025 | By Army Maj. Wes Shinego The U.S. Air Force's fundamental role is to secure dominance in the skies, a mission that grows more urgent as adversaries like China unveil advanced stealth platforms.  Speaking yesterday at the 2025 Air and Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, Air Force Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of Air Combat Command, laid out the stakes during the panel "Next-Generation Air Superiority: How Are We Going to Fight."   "The entire joint force counts on air superiority," he said. "Anything else you want to do in the battle space, if you don't have air superiority, it becomes much more difficult, if not impossible."   The Air Force will maintain that edge through integrated air and space superiority, what Wilsbach calls a "seamless necessity."   "They're very much linked and combined," he said. "You're likely not going to be able to achieve air superiority in the modern sense without space superiority as well."   This integration, Wilsbach said, includes advanced fighters, networked systems and non-kinetic tools employed to disrupt and dominate adversaries.   Wilsbach said the Air Force has not wavered on this priority despite debates questioning its relevance.   "There's been some talk in the public the age of air superiority is over, and I categorically reject that," he said. "It's the first building block of any other military operation that you need to establish if you want to achieve objectives."   There's no recent air war to draw from, Wilsbach admitted, noting today's pilots lack direct combat experience in contested skies. Still, preparing for that fight remains the top focus.   "If we can sustain our aircraft to the point where we can fly them frequently, and we get our crews reps and sets, they become proficient at what they do," he said.   While Air Force leadership pushes for resources and modernization, Wilsbach said airmen at every level must ready themselves for the next conflict.   "We have this construct of level one through four … training all the way up to very large exercises like Red Flag and Bamboo Eagle," he said. "Being able to work your way through those building block approaches in exercises improves your readiness across the spectrum of those missions that we could be called to do."   The Air Force doesn't yet have all the tools it needs to train at peak efficiency, he added. Modernization efforts are underway, but gaps persist.   "If you don't achieve air superiority, especially if neither side attains air superiority, you're going to have a stalemate," he said. "That's the big takeaway we can look and see from the differences between ."   Instead, Wilsbach said, airmen must bridge those gaps with ingenuity until better systems arrive.   "The most important thing we do is fly and fix airplanes," he said. "We've been challenged with the fixing part of it lately, which then translates to the number of sorties that we can fly. But one of the aspects of what we do is reps and sets."   While leadership works to secure advanced simulators and aircraft, Wilsbach said, airmen must find ways to sharpen their skills now.   "We stack effects — some kinetic, some non-kinetic, some deceptive," he said. "That's the way that we are training so that we will be ready to take the fight to any potential enemies."   When it comes to munitions, Wilsbach said, the force must balance capability with capacity.   "We can have the lower cost level… that perhaps can cause the adversary to run themselves ," he said. "We've spent a lot of our time in public talking about these very exquisite weapons that are unbelievably expensive, and we need some of those, but we don't need to spend all of our money on those."   Without a clear picture of what's needed across the force, Wilsbach said, modernization efforts risk falling short.   "We have some choices to make as we observe what China has produced," he said. "I don't believe that nothing is an option."    While leaders advocate for funding and policy support, Wilsbach said airmen must step up, too. Lt. Gen. Dale White, military deputy for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, reinforced this, saying the joint force relies on "access, freedom of maneuver, deterrence."  "I need airmen in the field to be ready," Wilsbach said. "The headquarters will drive everything it can from the top down, but I need you to meet us from the bottom up."   He added that the Air Force is working toward a future where readiness doesn't hinge on patchwork solutions. White agreed, noting the need for a "fight tonight" posture.  Wilsbach's remarks culminated with a call on airmen to improve their organizations through work and innovation. "And I'm confident there will come a day we finally put the processes in place to take the heroics out of our daily activities," Wilsbach said. "But until then, I need your effort. I need your ideas."

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