Following a bumpy NATO conference, air and space military leaders from the United States, United Kingdom, and 50 other countries will gather in London this week to discuss future military strategy as President Trump continues his push for allies to spend more on defense.
Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff; Gen. Chance Saltzman, the U.S. Space Force’s top uniformed leader; and top U.K. military and government leaders are the scheduled keynote speakers at the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference in London on Wednesday and Thursday. U.K. military leaders plan to discuss strategies for its growing F-35 fleet, some of which will be nuclear-capable for the alliance’s deterrence mission, and will also examine the country’s role in NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence mission.
“The conference theme explores three key capability areas: space, nuclear, and integrated air and missile defense,” the conference’s agenda reads. “These focus areas are critical to the UK and to key partner nations as we develop and deliver domination of the skies and beyond.”
The meeting follows a NATO conference in Turkey last week where President Donald Trump criticized Spain and said Denmark’s pushback of a U.S. takeover of Greenland is “a big problem for us.” But during private conversations, he reportedly urged cooperation with allies and later said there was “a lot of unity” at the summit. Now, the U.K.’s military air and space leaders are publicly pushing for solidarity ahead of this week’s conference.
“In 2026, the rate of change in the global strategic environment shows no signs of abating, if anything, the tempo is increasing,” U.K. Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smith, the Royal Air Force chief of staff, said in a statement on the conference’s website. “This is the ultimate team game; we cannot do this alone.”
The U.K. last month unveiled a new defence investment strategy that pushes for major investments in the country’s own autonomous drone wingman program—like the U.S. Air Force—and bolstering its military space capabilities.
The strategy followed the resignation of the country’s defense secretary, who protested the U.K.’s initial military spending plan and said in a public letter the country is “unwilling” to support “resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
Shortly after the resignation, the country unveiled a new $298 billion plan where U.K. leaders are “investing in UK Space Command to enhance space control” and want to integrate autonomous systems into their army, air, and naval forces.
“We will build a Hybrid Navy with new autonomous vessels and uncrewed sub-surface vessels, an Army transformed by AI, armed autonomous vehicles and drones, and accelerate the development of a Next Generation Royal Air Force with new autonomous fighter jets capable of operating from land bases or our aircraft carriers,” the summary of the new defence investment plan reads.
Though the U.S. and U.K. have a longstanding military relationship, the pursuit of those defense investments could signal some instability, said Victoria Samson, the Secure World Foundation’s chief director of space security and stability.
“I think we’ve seen, on the continent of Europe, that their concern is that the U.S. is no longer seen as a reliable partner, and that perhaps they need to build their own indigenous capabilities or domestically-built capabilities, And I kind of get the sense from the U.K. there is starting to be some thinking about that. Now, they’re much more tightly interwoven into the U.S. military structures,” Samson said. “But I think they’re trying to shift to maybe looking for more niche capabilities that they could provide as opposed to being a partner that provides land, and people, and funding, but not actual military hardware.”
Saltzman and Wilsbach have been meeting with airmen and allies in Europe ahead of the conference.
The U.S. chief of space operations visited Poland’s Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services Agency headquarters in Warsaw and signed a statement of intent that reinforced the two countries “shared commitment to collaboration in the space domain,” he said in a social media post.
During Saltzman’s remarks in Poland last week, he underscored “that the United States, particularly in the space domain, recognizes that it cannot go alone, it cannot perform the space missions by itself. It needs capable partners in order to accomplish our missions.”
Prior to the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference, Wilsbach visited troops at Aviano Air Base in Italy, and Royal Air Force Mildenhall and Fairford in the United Kingdom. Wilsbach, in a statement to Defense One, said he’s “really looking forward” to the event.
“Gatherings like this are important because they give us the opportunity to learn from one another, challenge each other, and strengthen the relationships that bolster our collective security,” he said.
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