Air Force Secretary warns of ‘Sputnik moment’ as U.S. faces China’s rapid military advances

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Air Force Secretary Troy Meink likened today’s geopolitical threats to the Sputnik shock of 1957, warning that the United States risks falling behind adversaries, particularly China, unless it accelerates innovation across air and space programs.

Just as Sputnik was a wake-up call that spurred American innovation, today’s threats require similar focus, Meink said Sept. 22 during a keynote speech at the Air & Space Forces Association’s annual conference outside Washington.

Meink, the Department of the Air Force’s top civilian overseeing both the Air Force and the Space Force, said he is increasingly worried about the services’ pace of innovation. The analogy to Sputnik — a Soviet satellite that orbited Earth every 96 minutes and shook U.S. confidence in its technological superiority — was meant to underscore his point. That launch sparked a nationwide mobilization in science and engineering that culminated in the Apollo moon landing just 12 years later.

“That is a level of focus that I think we need going forward,” he said.

The secretary argued that a similar national commitment is required today to preserve U.S. superiority in the face of China’s expanding investments in new fighter aircraft, long-range bombers, nuclear systems and space capabilities. “Since the moon landing, we’ve maintained space power,” Meink said. “But that lead is being threatened, and our job is to make sure we don’t lose it.”

Meink stressed that the United States continues to field “the best trained force in the world,” but questioned whether the nation is doing enough to maintain its edge. China, he said, is “the most significant threat” because of its ability to bring new technologies online far faster than the Pentagon. “Their development timelines are a fraction of ours … We have to innovate faster than our adversaries.”

Can’t lose ‘high ground’

One area of particular focus for the U.S. Space Force, said Meink, is “space control” — the ability to ensure that U.S. satellites can operate without interference while denying adversaries the same freedom. “Unfortunately, 10 to 15 years ago, some of our adversaries started to weaponize space, and weaponized space aggressively,” he said. “We stood on the sideline, probably too long. We didn’t want to go down that path, but now we are pushing hard.”

“We didn’t start the race to weaponize space, but we have to make sure we can continue to operate in that domain,” Meink said. “Going forward, we can’t lose that high ground.”

Meink’s broader concern spans both the Air Force and the Space Force: the gap between cutting-edge technology development and the ability to produce capabilities at the scale needed to compete with China. “Having the tools at the mass and scale that are necessary” is now a top priority, he said.

He cited advanced munitions, missile-warning and communications satellites as examples of programs that need to be fielded in larger numbers and at faster speeds. Without that kind of production momentum, he warned, the United States risks ceding hard-won advantages in the air and in orbit.