Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast [Sep 14, 2026] Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken “Cruiser” Wilsbach

On today’s program, sponsored by GE Aerospace, Gen. Ken “Cruiser” Wilsbach, the 24th chief of staff of the US Air Force, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his priorities, lessons from the Ukraine and Iran wars that are shaping air power; Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean capabilities that are shaping how the Air Force plans, operates, trains and equips; whether the service has sufficient margin to deter China and if necessary defeat it given concerns about weapon stocks; what kind of long-range strike and anti-air weapons the force will need to “outstick” adversaries; integration of short, medium and long-range unmanned systems; what happens if lawmakers don’t approve the service’s spending request; and whether airmen need the kind of nuclear training they received during the Cold War as the force presses ahead with modernizing its nuclear forces.