More than 60 air and space chiefs from around the world have gathered in London as the 2026 Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference opened at the Institution of Engineering and Technology on Savoy Place, with Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth telling a packed and noticeably buoyant room that the world’s air forces are the first responders in a security environment more volatile than anything seen in decades.
The two-day conference, run by the Air and Space Power Association, is themed around dominating the skies and beyond through agility, integration and readiness, with sessions spanning the renewed importance of nuclear deterrence, space, integrated air and missile defence and the lessons of current conflicts. Smyth, the former Harrier pilot from Lurgan who became the RAF’s first UK Space Commander before taking over as Chief of the Air Staff last August, was welcoming allies, industry and academics to the event for the first time as its host.
“The global security environment is arguably more complex and volatile today than we have seen in many, many decades,” he told delegates, pointing to persistent conflict in Eastern Europe and the Middle East alongside escalating tension in the Indo-Pacific. “The geopolitical tremors we see around the world today are directly impacting our own operational realities, demanding that we act quicker, demanding that we think different, demanding that we change the status quo, and that we innovate at an unprecedented pace.” The pace of change in digital capability, artificial intelligence and autonomy was, he argued, both the greatest challenge facing air forces and their greatest opportunity, though technology counts for nothing without the conceptual framework, the people and the training to employ it.
The purpose of the gathering, Smyth said, is to push beyond cooperation towards seamless integration across every operational domain, because no single nation can secure itself alone. “The alliances and personal friendships forged in this room during peacetime are exactly what will sustain our joint operations in times of crisis and conflict,” he said, adding a line that drew nods around the hall: “You cannot surge trust.” Trust, he argued, is built in rooms like this one, through honest debate and shared learning, and he encouraged delegates to challenge the panels and ask the hard questions over the two days ahead.
Air Marshal (Ret’d) Greg Bagwell, President of the Air and Space Power Association and a former Deputy Commander Operations, opened proceedings by noting a buzz around this year’s event, which marks the tenth run in partnership with the IET, and pointed delegates towards the association’s new booklet, World War 3.0, which uses ten UK-based vignettes to explain to the public what air and space power would mean in a future conflict. “It’s not really a book for the people in this room,” he said. “It’s a book for the people outside who either don’t get it, don’t believe it, or are yet to understand it.”
Word War 3.0. Sounds like a rollicking good read. I wonder if it has a happy ending.