More than 45 international air chiefs and military commanders from 39 countries and NATO will be among 550 delegates at the largest ever gathering for the Chief of the Air Staff’s Air & Space Power Conference (ASPC 2019) in London on 17-18 July.
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, will host the global forum which draws annually leaders from the RAF and UK Defence and their global allies and partners along with senior professionals from the business, science and technology and academic communities. This year, the Conference will also host more than 150 RAF personnel from across the ranks and trades who will join the debate, and live streaming will enable more RAF personnel located across the UK and overseas and other MOD staff to engage with the discussions.
The Conference theme, ‘Multi-Domain Operations for the Next Generation Air Force’, will explore how integrating air, space and cyber environments and technologies will be key to any decisive advantage in both conventional and ‘Gray Zone’ scenarios, or conflicts which fall below the threshold of combat.
Keynote speakers are The Rt. Hon. Penny Mordaunt MP, Secretary of State for Defence; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, UK Chief of the Air Staff; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee; and General David Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force (USAF). The top-billing line-up of international speakers includes Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld, Chief of Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force; Major General Tonje Skinnarland, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force; and Major General Stephen Whiting, Commander, Air Force Space Command, USAF.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier said: “As we enter an age of constant strategic competition, ASPC will examine in detail how the Royal Air Force, NATO and our allies across the world can address the sub-threshold threats that permeate the strategic environment and explore how air and space power can maximise its contribution to our national and collective security. Based on our interactions at the Conference, I am confident that we will gain greater insight, mutual understanding and clearer routes to enhanced future co-operation and partnership".
Air Marshal (Retd) Greg Bagwell, Air & Space Power Association (ASPA) President, said: “It is entirely appropriate that this Conference and our Association turn its attention to the Space domain, a domain which is a very natural (and literal) extension of the air domain. There are few military operations today, and even less looking forward, that do not rely extensively on the enablement of space. Whilst navies and armies all have a rightful claim to the prominence of Space, it is airmen and women who can grasp the fundamental operational precepts of looking across a wide battlespace and managing, protecting and employing a service into and across multiple domains, without boundaries or C2 seams getting in the way. Space power is the new airpower".
The Conference is being delivered by the Air & Space Power Association (ASPA) in partnership with the RAF Centre for Air and Space Power Studies (RAF CASPS).
For further information about the Air & Space Power Conference 2019 and the latest programme, please visit the conference website: https://www.airpower.org.uk/air-space-power-conference-2019/