The Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference this week in London will delve into future warfighting concepts harnessing artificial intelligence/machine learning for kinetic and command and control purposes; quantum computing; the transition from crewed to uencrewed systems; and lessons learned for allied air forces from the ongoing Russian assault on Ukraine.
Among the marquee speakers scheduled are U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown; U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond; Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston; Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, the head of the U.K. Space Command; Lindy Cameron, the CEO of the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre; Northrop Grumman [NOC] CEO Kathy Warden; Mark Cole, the director of ISR and UAS requirements at Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Skunk Works division; Ian Muldowney, the chief operating officer at BAE Systems‘ air division; Simon Harwood, the U.K. capability director at Leonardo; and former U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper, a senior adviser at McKinsey & Co.
Organized by the U.K.’s Air and Space Power Association, the Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference this year returns to an in-person format after COVID-19 prevented such gatherings in 2020 and last year.
Among the topics discussed will be hypersonics, cyber capabilities, advanced stealth, cognitive electronic warfare, space surveillance, swarming drones, manned-unmanned teaming, and AI/ML and whether fusing such features will lead to a new era of “hyper war” that involves significantly faster weapons and decision making.
Tim Robinson, a fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), suggested that integrating U.S. air and space forces with those of NATO and other allied nations will be a key question. “How do these second and third tier air arms integrate with the might of the U.S. military – if joining an alliance or a coalition?” Robinson asked in an RAeS post last week. “Will air arms without hypersonics, satellite ISR, or swarming drones be the equivalent of a 1930s air force with two-gun, radio-less biplane fighters attempting to integrate with a 1944 air defense system, with radar and electronic warfare?”