New AFSPC commander touts 'invisible force'

  • Published
  • By Maj. Laurie Arellano
  • 90th Space Wing Public Affairs
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  The new commander of Air Force Space Command visited the 90th Space Wing and 20th Air Force July 28 to Aug. 1, touting what he called the "invisible force" with the big hammer.

Gen. Kevin P. Chilton said he is excited to leverage the creative talent of the Airmen at all levels of the command and is determined to promote AFSPC as the premier experts on space operations.

The general wants AFSPC to be the "go-to" force for questions about space.

"We are the best; we're the professionals at all things related to space," General Chilton said, "from ICBM and satellite operations to the ground infrastructure and the cops who defend these systems to the acquisition of the new systems that will insure we sustain the advantages we enjoy today.

"Our challenge is not only to be experts in the application of space capabilities," he said, "but also to understand how we can provide ever greater support to other elements of our Air Force as well as the joint force."

The general said space provides the warfighter an asymmetric advantage over the enemy. This "invisible force" is supporting the war on terror through the Global Positioning System, weather, over-the-horizon communications, intelligence, early warning.  All of these enable systems for the war such as unmanned aerial vehicles and hugely important joint direct attack munitions. 

The Airmen of 20th AF provide the president's "biggest hammer," a nuclear deterrent force, General Chilton said.

"This force is just as much or more relevant today, within the construct of the New Triad and particularly so as we see other nations seek to develop nuclear weapons," he said.