While delivering a commencement speech today at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink told the graduating cadets the U.S. Indo-Pacific region will be the primary focus of military conflict in the coming years.
"For the past 25 years, we have been focused on low-intensity conflict in the Middle East, but no longer," Meink told some 900 soon-to-be commissioned officers, adding the focus has now shifted to defending the homeland and deterring China in the Indo-Pacom.
"The Indo-Pacific will be your generation's fight, and you will deliver the most lethal force that this nation has ever [seen] — or we will not succeed," Meink said.
Noting the Air Force is participating in "the largest exercise since the Cold War" in the Indo-Pacom next month, Meink said the perceived threat in that region is "unlike anything we've ever faced," and it is unlike the Cold War of the late 20th century, the relatively peaceful 1990s and the Global War on Terror of the 2000s.
"Today's competition with China is wide-ranging and it is unpredictable; there will be no sanctuaries," Meink said, adding many assumptions about air and space power will need to change and evolve.
"If we continue to operate as we have in the past, we will fail in the future; and we cannot afford to fail," he said.
Meink said the Air Force and Space Force need to be ready to deploy on short notice to "fight and win, anytime, anywhere and with the most advanced systems on the planet," while acknowledging that completing four full years at the academy can be quite challenging." As you look back at your time here, you will see how well it prepared you for what it will take in the future; how well it has forged you into the leaders of character that we need in our Air Force and Space Force," he said.
"Everything you have been through these past four years has been for this purpose," Meink added.
The secretary wound down his remarks first by stating that some of the Air Force's "proudest achievements" have been accomplished by junior officers, and then by naming a few of those young officers and describing their achievements throughout the service's history.
"Congratulations, class of 2025. Welcome to the Air Force and Space Force," Meink told the cadets. "We are counting on you."