“We must ensure the next war is won, not lost, in space” says retired US Air Force general

Written by: Nick G. on July 1, 2026

Retired General Jim Slife, former USAF Vice Chief of Staff, has criticised current space warfare planning, saying that obsolete acquisition programs need to be urgently replaced to enable the US to catch up with China in the race for domination of Space.

In a June 24, 2026 opinion piece, he said “Space is now the ultimate high ground in warfighting. Whoever dominates space has a decisive advantage over our adversaries. The recent combat operations in Iran, Ukraine, and Venezuela, where space operations were vital to each and every movement of military forces, have shattered any remaining illusions about space having a secondary role in modern conflict.”

In case anyone took that to mean only the use of satellites to direct ground fighting, he explained that “True space superiority requires systems capable of active orbital mobility that can maneuver on demand, inspect anomalies in real time, and actively service or physically safeguard our critical infrastructure under fire by firing back.”

Unlike objects in geostationary location (for example, a satellite positioned to be directly over Melbourne at all times), the US Space Force is now embracing the concept of satellites with the ability to move freely on orbit over long periods of time as a foundation for orbital warfare (see: Shifting gears: Space Force moves to embrace space mobility for orbital warfare - Breaking Defense ).

Slife says the US has the twin advantages of the world’s largest pools of venture capital and an innovation culture rooted in start-ups, and calls for funding to move away from prime contractors like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. 

Slife himself now works for venture capitalist Scout Ventures, the FTG & Co. Investment Bank and as strategic advisor for a number of defence technology and aerospace firms. He exemplifies the military-finance capital complex that is advocating for the military control of Space by US imperialism.

Pointing to the need to catch up with China in the race for Space, he said “In 2024, the Space Force publicly confirmed five Chinese satellites conducted coordinated proximity maneuvers in low-Earth orbit, described by Space Force Gen. Mike Guetlein as satellite “dogfighting.” Beijing has since demonstrated on-orbit satellite refueling in geostationary orbit, extending the operational life of assets we cannot currently match.”

Meanwhile, on June 23rd and 24th, space agency heads and senior officials from the ten BRICS nations gathered in Bengaluru, India, to attend their latest high-level discussions on outer space. The group considered the idea of a Space Council that has been primarily advocated for by Russia since 2024 as an entity that can facilitate more complex and costly cooperation between the member states.

Inter-imperialist rivalry over Space runs counter to the UN Outer Space Treaty (OSP) which defines Outer Space as being “for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind”.

The UN OSP is already being violated by imperialist interests. The commercial colonisation and militarisation of Space must be condemned by all of humanity. 

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