Chief of Space Operations uses his final Space Symposium briefing to set force design through 2040, scale procurement and press allied integration.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, used what he called his last major roundtable with industry journalists at Space Symposium 2026 to roll out the service’s newly released Future Operating Environment and Objective Force documents. Speaking on the record during the April 13-16 symposium, Saltzman framed the two documents as the baseline for how the Space Force will grow, buy and fight through 2040.
The unclassified Objective Force lays out key global mission areas, Saltzman said, while classified annexes — including electronic warfare and portions of the orbital warfare mission — remain to be finished. He said he declined to delay the unclassified release until every annex was done. “That was just about prioritization and getting as much information out as fast as possible,” the general said.
That was just about prioritization and getting as much information out as fast as possible.
Declarative language in the documents is deliberate, Saltzman said. It is meant to force debate, not to serve as an intelligence estimate or a strategy. “This is not an intelligence estimate. It is not definitive. We are not drawing conclusions, even though we use declarative statements,” he said. “The reason you use declarative statements is to generate debate and discussion.”
The service will re-baseline the Objective Force every five years, with annual updates tied to budgets and war-gaming, Saltzman said. He described the force in three five-year epochs running to 2040. End strength will keep growing, moving from roughly 200 additional personnel per year toward 400 to 500 annually over the next several years as new missions — including space superiority, ground moving target indicator and air moving target indicator — demand new training, ranges and infrastructure.
On threats, the Objective Force projects the U.S. operating as many as 30,000 satellites by 2040, with China approaching 20,000. Saltzman pushed back on the idea that sheer count dictates defensibility. “The best protection is deterrence. Plain and simple,” he said, noting the Space Force protects 30,000 assets the same way the U.S. military protects 2.5 million service members — by being strong enough to “deny benefits” and “create consequences” against an attacker.
The shift from missile warning to missile defense and space-based interceptors, Saltzman said, requires global coverage, higher-fidelity sensors and very low data latency to close a kill chain. “If you’re going to actually close the kill chain, the latency of the data has to be very small,” he said.
Budget posture was a recurring thread. Saltzman welcomed the larger topline signaled by Department of War leadership and said the service has written requirements around scalability so major programs can move from RDT&E into production. A reporter cited roughly $7 billion in procurement for space-based target indication in the current budget request. “Now we have the resources to actually fulfill those orders, and I think that demand signal back to industry is going to give them confidence to facilitize, open up the production lines, and start to put the capacity there,” Saltzman said. His teams are focused on expanding and extending existing contract vehicles rather than writing new ones, he added, so execution can move fast once appropriations land.
Asked what worries him most about absorbing a significant funding increase, Saltzman was blunt. “The biggest challenge will be a CR,” he said, adding, “I know that doesn’t surprise anybody in here.” Continuing resolutions do not stop the Space Force, he said, but they impose compounding slowdowns on a service trying to scale, and an on-time appropriation is what the government owes its industrial base.
The biggest challenge will be a CR. I know that doesn’t surprise anybody in here.
Allied integration got similar weight. Saltzman called the Objective Force a “point of departure” for partner nations to see where the Space Force is headed and decide where to contribute without duplicating effort. Cis-lunar operations, newly energized by the Artemis II crewed mission, will stretch launch infrastructure, space domain awareness math and communications architectures, he said. “Wherever US interests go, so will go the US Space Force,” Saltzman said.
Closing what he signaled would be his final Space Symposium briefing as CSO, the general said he is “not sad” about leaving. The service is finally aligning resources, processes and Guardian talent at the same time, he said, and annual updates to the Objective Force will carry the framework forward. “There will be annual updates as we continue to refine, as we continue to build budgets,” Saltzman said.
