Top Air and Space Force leaders will gather amid unresolved Iran war, budget uncertainty

Air Force Chief Ken Wilsbach speaks at the Air Force Association Warfare Symposium Feb. 23, 2026. U.S. Air Force / TSgt. Stuart Bright

The Joint Chiefs chairman, Space Force’s new leader, and the NASA administrator are all scheduled to speak at next week’s Air and Space Force Association conference.

Air, Space & Cyber Conference

Just three days after top military leaders left the Air and Space Force Association’s February conference in Colorado, the U.S. and Israel struck Iran, commencing Operation Epic Fury. Now, more than six months later, service officials are scheduled to gather again outside Washington D.C. to pitch their top budget priorities as the unresolved war wages on.

The Air and Space Force Association's Air, Space & Cyber conference next week comes as the services chug along on major acquisitions programs amid funding uncertainty on Capitol Hill. Those initiatives include fielding Collaborative Combat Aircraft, developing the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, accelerating production on the B-21 bomber and showing progress on the future F-47 fighter jet, and demonstrating key components of the Golden Dome missile defense system. In addition to announcing updates on those programs, military and defense industry leaders will discuss the ongoing conflict.

While top service leaders are sure to focus on the Iran war strategy, one defense analyst said there are still a lot of unanswered questions on modernizing the forces for future conflicts.

“I'm expecting we will hear quite a bit about the war in Iran and lessons learned from the war,” said Kelly Greico, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center. “But I think the really big question for me, that I'm more interested in, is, what are actually the modernization priorities of this leadership team? Last time we heard a lot about readiness, but less emphasis, I would say, frankly, on what the priorities were about where the Air Force is heading in terms of how it's preparing for the future fight.”

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine is scheduled to address this year’s conference, as partisan gridlock has imperiled top service programs programs and funding priorities—including F-35 procurement, crucial munitions, and the military-wide Golden Dome missile defense program. On Wednesday, NDIA Emerging Technologies Conference , Caine pushed for fully funding the administration's 13-figure proposal.

“What we need is $1.5 trillion, the configuration of that budget, that's a political decision for policy makers,” Caine said. “But we support that and need that capital to make sure that the deals that the department are negotiating with the wide range of not only NDIA members but broader industry members is essential for us to keep going.”

Caine’s pitch comes after lawmakers scaled back the administration’s $350 billion in requested reconciliation funds to just $60 billion to support Iran war operations. In April, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the Air Force’s top uniformed leader, told lawmakers the service would need supplemental funding to replace aircraft lost during Operation Epic Fury.

After dozens of MQ-9 Reaper drones were destroyed in the fight with Iran, the service is likely to make some announcements about its plans to develop and buy a replacement under its Massed Modular Aircraft program, known as MMA. Service officials during a Pentagon roundtable last week teased that Air Force Secretary Troy Meink would have updates on the effort.

“I would expect at AFA that he'll probably have some comments on what he is envisioning for the MMA, where he wants to go in terms of numbers and timeline and stuff like that, but he absolutely has made it clear to us that his expectation is we need to bring it to the left,” Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Niemi, the Air Force’s chief modernization officer, told reporters.

Guetlein, the Golden Dome director, is also scheduled to speak at the conference..

Last month, the four-star Space Force general warned that the sprawling, military-wide missile defense project was in peril. About 97 percent of the program’s $17.5 billion request this year was based on reconciliation funding. He is scheduled to appear on a panel titled “Defending the Homeland: Making Golden Dome a Reality” alongside Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the head of U.S. Northern Command.

Amid the budget uncertainty, Greico said it’s a tall order for the Air and Space Force to accomplish all its goals.

“The Air and Space Forces, together, their budget is, to me, is not sustainable,” Greico said. “Fundamentally, it doesn't make sense how they can do everything that they want to do.”

NEXT STORY: Pentagon cyber strategy expected as soon as next week, sources say

空军参谋长肯·威尔斯巴赫于2026年2月23日在空军协会作战研讨会上发表讲话。美国空军/技术军士斯图尔特·布莱特

参谋长联席会议主席、太空军新任领导人和美国国家航空航天局局长都计划在下周的空军和太空军协会会议上发表讲话。

航空航天网络会议

就在高级军事领导人离开科罗拉多州举行的空军和太空部队协会二月会议三天后，美国和以色列对伊朗发动了袭击，拉开了“史诗狂怒行动”的序幕。如今，六个多月过去了，军方官员计划再次齐聚华盛顿特区郊外，就预算优先事项进行磋商，而这场悬而未决的战争仍在继续。

下周，美国空军和太空部队协会将召开“空天网络”会议。与此同时，尽管国会山的资金问题悬而未决，各军种仍在推进重大采购项目。这些项目包括部署协同作战飞机、研发“哨兵”洲际弹道导弹、加快B-21轰炸机的生产、展示未来F-47战斗机的研发进展，以及演示“金穹顶”导弹防御系统的关键部件。除了公布这些项目的最新进展外，军方和国防工业界的领导人还将讨论当前的冲突局势。

尽管高级军官肯定会将注意力集中在伊朗战争战略上，但一位国防分析人士表示，关于如何使军队现代化以应对未来的冲突，仍有很多问题尚未得到解答。

“我预计我们会听到很多关于伊朗战争以及从战争中吸取的教训，”史汀生中心高级研究员凯利·格雷科说。“但我认为对我来说，真正重要的问题，也是我更感兴趣的问题是，这支领导团队的现代化优先事项究竟是什么？上次我们听到了很多关于战备的讨论，但坦白说，对于空军在如何为未来战争做好准备方面，其优先事项是什么，我们听到的却很少。”

参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军计划在今年的会议上发表讲话。由于党派僵局，包括F-35战斗机采购、关键弹药以及覆盖全军的“金穹顶”导弹防御系统在内的多项重要军种项目和资金优先事项都面临风险。周三，在国防工业协会新兴技术会议上，凯恩将军力促政府全额拨款，以支持其提出的1300万美元的提案。

凯恩说：“我们需要1.5万亿美元，至于预算的具体构成，那是政策制定者的政治决定。但我们支持这项预算，并且需要这笔资金来确保该部门与包括NDIA成员在内的众多行业成员进行谈判达成的协议能够顺利进行，这对我们继续开展工作至关重要。”

凯恩的提议是在国会议员将政府申请的3500亿美元预算协调资金削减至仅600亿美元，用于支持伊朗战争行动之后提出的。今年4月，空军最高指挥官肯尼斯·威尔斯巴赫将军告诉国会议员，空军需要补充资金来替换在“史诗狂怒行动”中损失的飞机。

在与伊朗的冲突中数十架MQ-9“死神”无人机被摧毁后，美国空军可能会宣布其根据“大规模模块化飞机”（MMA）计划研发和采购替代机型的方案。上周，在五角大楼举行的一次圆桌会议上，空军官员暗示空军部长特洛伊·梅因克将就此项目发布最新消息。

“我预计他在空军学院会议上可能会对MMA的设想发表一些评论，比如他希望在数字和时间表等方面达到什么目标，但他已经明确告诉我们，他的期望是我们需要将其向左倾斜，”空军首席现代化官克里斯托弗·J·尼米中将告诉记者。

金顶剧院院长盖特莱因也计划在会议上发言。

上个月，这位四星太空军将领警告说，这项规模庞大、覆盖全军的导弹防御项目正面临危机。该项目今年申请的175亿美元预算中，约97%来自预算协调拨款。他将与内布拉斯加州共和党参议员黛布·费舍尔和美国北方司令部司令格雷戈里·M·吉洛特将军一同出席题为“保卫国土：让金顶成为现实”的小组讨论会。

格雷科表示，在预算不确定的情况下，空军和太空部队要实现所有目标是一项艰巨的任务。

格雷科说：“在我看来，空军和太空军的预算加起来是不可持续的。从根本上讲，他们怎么可能完成所有想做的事情，这根本说不通。”

下一篇报道：消息人士称，五角大楼网络战略预计最早将于下周出台