Spacepower Podcast

Space Force Association
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Non-Profit
  • Updated Biweekly

Spacepower is a strategic podcast from the Space Force Association exploring the leaders, ideas, and operations shaping the space domain. Hosted by SFA Founder Bill “Hippie” Woolf, the show features conversations with senior military leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on deterrence, maneuver, technology, and the evolving role of space in national security. Episodes include in-depth interviews and solo analysis breaking down the trends defining the future of spacepower.

  1. 1d ago

    The Space Force's Invisible Battlefield: Why Test and Training Infrastructure Changes Everything

    Fighter pilots don't go to war on day one. First comes Red Flag, the punishing mock combat over the Nevada desert designed to be harder than anything a pilot will ever face in actual conflict, so that when the real moment comes, it isn't the first time. For most of the space mission's history, that rehearsal didn't exist. Guardians operated systems that had only ever been tested in benign environments. The capabilities were real. The training wasn't. System Delta 81 is the unit changing that. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Col. Corey Klopstein, Commander of System Delta 81 at Space Systems Command, to discuss the Operational Test and Training Infrastructure, OTTI, the Space Force's answer to Red Flag, and why building it is one of the most consequential things SSC is doing right now. In this conversation, Col. Klopstein discusses: - Why the Space Force went this long without a Red Flag equivalent, and what changed in the threat environment to make OTTI urgent - The three layers of space test and training infrastructure: digital simulation, physical on-orbit assets, and the data architecture connecting them - Why a simulation is only as honest as the live data feeding it, and what it takes to build a physical lane that validates the digital one - What a range-as-a-service contract looks like in practice, and how a commercial satellite's on-orbit maneuver became a live Guardian training event - Why SYD 81 pairs with multiple commands simultaneously, Space Training and Readiness Command and Combat Forces Command, rather than a single Mission Delta - How the Joint Simulation Environment, already used by F-35 pilots, is being extended for space - What Gen. Saltzman told Col. Klopstein about delivering an F-22 without a training infrastructure, and why that analogy captures exactly what OTTI solves - Why "when I say football and you say football, we need to mean the same thing", and what that has to do with building a shared operational language across commands and allies - What ruthless prioritization looks like for a mission area with more requirements than people and more requirements than money You can build the most advanced satellite in the world. If the Guardian operating it has never trained against a thinking adversary, you haven't delivered combat power. This episode is about the infrastructure that closes that gap, before the conflict starts. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Col. Corey Klopstein, Commander, System Delta 81, Space Systems Command Col. Klopstein commands System Delta 81, the Space Systems Command unit responsible for developing and delivering the Operational Test and Training Infrastructure for the Space Force. On his 13th year at Los Angeles Air Force Base, he serves as both the SYD 81 commander and the Portfolio Acquisition Executive and Program Acquisition Executive for infrastructure. SYD 81 works across Space Training and Readiness Command and Combat Forces Command to ensure delivered capabilities are tested against real threats and Guardians are trained to operate them before the first flag event. Learn more about Space Systems Command: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/ Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    50 min

  2. Jun 25

    The Signal the World Runs On: GPS with SYD 831

    Your phone knows where you are right now. Your bank recorded the exact millisecond of your last transaction. The plane you flew on landed safely in low visibility. The farmer who grew your food planted rows one to two centimeters apart. Every one of those things runs on a signal broadcast from twelve thousand miles overhead, a signal the United States Space Force has guaranteed to the entire world, by law, since way before its inception, 1978. GPS is the closest thing the planet has to a shared utility. It is also something the Space Force has to defend, every single day, against adversaries who cannot out-engineer it and are actively trying to deny it. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Col. Neil Barnas, Commander of System Delta 831 at Space Systems Command, to discuss what makes American GPS the global gold standard, what it takes to keep a 31-satellite constellation running against active threats, and what the next generation of GPS will be able to do that the current one cannot. In this conversation, Col. Barnas discusses: - The three pillars that make American GPS the global gold standard, accuracy, transparency, and a legally guaranteed service level - Why GPS is certified for human flight operations, and what that standard means in practice - How the signal has been continuously broadcast since 1978, and why the satellites being launched today are designed to serve for 15 years or more - What GPS Space Vehicle 10, the final GPS III satellite, means for the constellation and the warfighters waiting on it - The GPS III-F upgrade: a 1,200-kilometer spot beam capable of up to 63 times the baseline M-code signal power, focused on exactly the area of the Earth where it's needed most - How 63 international partners integrate GPS user equipment into their own aircraft, ground vehicles, and munitions - Why agriculture is one of the most GPS-dependent industries on Earth, and what differential GPS does at the centimeter level - How AI tools are now processing eleven hundred pages of technical documentation to accelerate acquisition decisions - What the System Delta construct means for a mission area as globally consequential as position, navigation, and timing GPS is often called a gold standard. This episode explains what that standard actually requires to maintain, and what happens to the joint force if it degrades. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Col. Neil Barnas, Commander, System Delta 831, Space Systems Command Col. Barnas commands System Delta 831, the Space Systems Command unit responsible for developing, fielding, and modernizing the GPS constellation and the ground and user equipment systems that deliver positioning, navigation, and timing to the joint force and to civilian users worldwide. SYD 831 is paired with Mission Delta 31, which operates the GPS constellation daily. Learn more about Space Systems Command: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/ Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    35 min

  3. Jun 18

    On Our Worst Day, These Links Have to Hold: Inside Military SATCOM with SYD 88

    On the worst day imaginable, the day a nuclear decision has to be made, the President of the United States needs to talk to commanders and allies anywhere on Earth. That conversation runs through space. And the people responsible for delivering it just did so two full years ahead of schedule. But this episode isn't just about a single acquisition win. It's about a fundamental shift in how the Space Force thinks about buying capabilities. For decades, a cultural wall separated the people who acquired systems from the people who fought with them. Requirements passed over a fence. Timelines drifted. By the time a capability arrived, the threat had sometimes already moved. System Delta 88 exists to make that model obsolete. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Col. A.J. Ashby, Commander of System Delta 88 at Space Systems Command, to discuss how the Space Force is rewiring military satellite communications acquisition and what it looks like when acquisition becomes a warfighting function. In this conversation, Col. Ashby discusses: Why the Space Force created System Deltas in 2025 and how they differ from traditional program officesWhat "acquisition is a warfighting function" actually means in practice, not just on a slideHow SYD 88 won the 2025 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award, the Department of War's highest acquisition team honor, for delivering a critical NC3 capability two full years earlyThe cultural wall between acquirers and operators, and the specific steps SYD 88 is taking to tear it downWhy new SYD 88 personnel earn a SATCOM patch the same way an operator earns a ratingWhat "zero daylight" between SYD 88 and Mission Delta 8 looks like in a weekly ops meetingThe commercial-first philosophy: where industry solutions win outright and where the hard military-specific problems beginWhy vendor lock is one of the biggest risks in the SATCOM portfolio and how open architecture changes thatWhat it means to deliver capability at the speed of threat relevance, not just the speed of the program scheduleHow junior acquirers who have never read a requirements document are being trained to think like warfightersMilitary satellite communications is invisible on a good day. It has to be invisible, reliable, and unjammable on the worst one. This episode is about the team building it and the reform changing how the Space Force buys for war. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Col. A.J. Ashby, Commander, System Delta 88, Space Systems Command Col. Ashby commands System Delta 88, the Space Systems Command unit responsible for developing and delivering military satellite communications capabilities to the joint force. Under his command, SYD 88 received the 2025 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for delivering a critical nuclear command, control, and communications capability two years ahead of schedule. It was the largest source selection in Space Force history across a $24 billion portfolio. Learn more about Space Systems Command: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/ Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    38 min

  4. Jun 10

    Small Force, Big Mission: Jennifer Saltzman on the People Behind the Space Force

    Ten thousand Guardians. That's it. The entire United States Space Force fits inside a mid-sized college campus. And yet the domain they protect underpins every GPS route, every weather forecast, every financial transaction, every call you made today. Jennifer Saltzman has been part of that community since before the Space Force existed, since before most people had heard the word "Guardian," since the uniforms were still being designed and the swag hadn't been invented yet. As the spouse of Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, she has traveled to bases and installations across the country and around the world, meeting families in places where a handful of Guardians are embedded in a much larger military community, sometimes feeling invisible, always doing critical work. Thank you to CXAL (Connected Alliances) for sponsoring this episode of Spacepower Podcast. To learn more about CXAL, visit ⁠https://cx-al.com In this conversation with SFA Founder Bill Woolf, a decades-long friend, Jennifer talks candidly about what military family life actually looks like inside the Space Force, why "deployed in place" is harder to explain than it sounds, and what it means to build a community from scratch inside the newest branch of the U.S. military. In this episode: Why the Space Force's small size makes community-building both harder and more urgentWhat Jennifer means when she says "connection" is her favorite Space Force valueThe Buckley Spouses Alliance: how a group of spouses built a food pantry from the ground up, logging over 5,500 volunteer hours and distributing 38,000 pounds of food in two yearsThe Peak Food Pantry at Peterson Space Force Base: up and running since September 2025 and already distributing nearly 23,000 pounds of foodWhy "deployed in place" is a uniquely difficult experience for Guardian families and why it deserves more attentionThe Space Force uniform journey, from borrowing Air Force gear to service dress on the mannequin at clothing salesWhy Jennifer has been handing out space-themed chocolate for years, and why a Guardian told her he still has a piece she gave him two years agoWhat it felt like to watch the first Basic Military Training class graduate in full Guardian service dressWhy talking about space with your neighbors, your kids, and your coworkers is one of the most meaningful things civilians can do right nowThis episode doesn't talk about orbital mechanics or acquisition strategy. It talks about the people holding the community together while Guardians do work most Americans will never see. That story matters too. Hosted by Bill Woolf / Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Jennifer Saltzman is the spouse of Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force. She is an advocate for Guardian families, military spouse programs, and public awareness of the Space Force mission. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://linktr.ee/ussfa

    28 min

  5. Jun 4

    What the School That Trains Space Warfighters Has Built, and What Comes Next

    Space has been a contested domain for years. The doctrine, the training, and the culture needed to fight and win in it have been built, mostly quietly, at a squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. Most people who care about the Space Force have never heard of it. Most of the people shaping how space warfare is conducted today came through it. This year, the 328th Weapons Squadron turns 30. Three decades after the Space Division was stood up at the Air Force Weapons School in 1996, the institution that started by teaching fighter pilots how to integrate space support into their missions now graduates the tactical and operational leaders who will contest the domain against peer adversaries. The transformation is real. And according to the officer commanding the 328th right now, it's far from finished. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander of the 328th Weapons Squadron, to talk about what the space weapons officer community has built, where it's going, and what the next 30 years demand. In this conversation, Lt. Col. Peterson discusses: Why the 328th is a domain WIC, not a platform WIC, and why that distinction changes everything about how space warfighters are trainedWhat it means to graduate 450 weapons officers over 30 years in a service that still needs to double in sizeHow the course evolved from space support integration to full orbital warfare and EW combined arms, and why that shift wasn't just curriculum, it was cultureThe debrief culture that distinguishes weapons officers: why failure is designed into the course, and what that teaches about decision-making under real-world pressureThe feedback loop between operators, testers, and acquirers, and why building the widget before figuring out how to fight it is one of the Space Force's cardinal sinsWhat it looks like when a Guardian truly understands the joint force, and why that connection is the foundation of everything the 328th producesWhy the school is expanding: a new building, an intelligence course, a cyber course, and what that signals about where the Space Force is headingWhat the 30th anniversary Reblu is actually for, and why reconnecting 450 graduates matters as much as the classified combat updates on day oneWhat the 328th needs to keep producing to ensure the Space Force wins the fights that are comingThe Space Force of 2045 is being built right now at Nellis. The 328th turns 30 this month and the celebration isn't just about what's been accomplished. It's about what the weapons officer community owes the joint force in the next three decades. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander, 328th Weapons Squadron, Space Delta 1, Space Training and Readiness Command Lt. Col. Peterson commands the Space Force's weapons school at Nellis Air Force Base — the institution responsible for producing the Space Force's tactical and operational warfighting experts. He brings a background in missile warning, three combat deployments, and time in the Space Force's futures division to the role. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    56 min

  6. May 29

    The Space Force Trains Guardians. Delta 13 Teaches Them Why They Fight.

    Most people who know the Space Force exists assume it trains operators. People who know how to run satellites, track threats, and execute missions. What fewer people understand is that operating a system and understanding why that system matters are two entirely different things. One is a skill. The other is the foundation of a warfighter. Space is no longer a peaceful backstop for GPS and weather. It's a contested domain, one that underpins every instrument of American power, from diplomacy to the economy to combat operations. The Space Force didn't just need people who could do the job. It needed people who could explain why the job exists in the first place, and then teach that to the entire joint force, allied partners, and eventually the American public. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Col. Alison Gonzalez, Commander of Space Delta 13, the Space Force's dedicated education command under Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), to explore why building a force of strategic thinkers is just as important as building a force of trained operators. Why the Space Force separated education from training — and what's lost when you collapse the twoWhat Delta 13 actually does: the three pillars of professional military education, continuing education, and partnership educationHow Delta 13 educates beyond Guardians — including the joint force, international allies, industry, and academiaWhy Col. Gonzalez believes seamless integration across all those partners is the long-term vision — and what stands in the wayThe role universities like Texas A&M, Arizona State, and Purdue play in developing Guardian leadersHow industry partnerships give Guardians real operational problem sets to solve — and bring solutions back to the forceThe story behind Col. Gonzalez becoming one of the first Guardians to wear and publicly demonstrate the Space Force service dress uniformHow she went from satellite operator to commanding one of STARCOM's deltas — and what she'd tell any Guardian trying to rise through the ranksWhy less than 10% of Americans know the Space Force exists — and what SFA and Delta 13 can do together to change thatEducation is the why behind everything the Space Force does. Without it, you have operators. With it, you have Guardians who understand what they're protecting and why it's worth fighting for. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday AV by Redwire Production Support by Emily Honhart and Omar Mahmoud Col. Alison R. Gonzalez Commander, Space Delta 13, Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) Col. Gonzalez assumed command of Delta 13 in July 2025, taking charge of the Space Force's education enterprise headquartered at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Her career spans satellite operations, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Space Defense Center, and Headquarters U.S. Space Force, where she served as Director of Staff for the Office of the Chief of Human Capital prior to taking command. Learn more about Space Delta 13: https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Units/Space-Delta-13-Education/ Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    18 min

  7. May 21

    CMSSF Bentivegna: The Space Force Needs to Double, and Here's Exactly How It Happens

    The Space Force needs to double in size. That's not a talking point, it's a legislative ask, a budgetary argument, and a warfighting requirement all at once. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, CMSSF John Bentivegna, to break down exactly what it would take to grow the Space Force from roughly 11,000 to 25,000 Guardians by 2031, and why the threat environment leaves no room for delay. Most people hear the headline and assume it is a budget conversation. It's much more specific than that. Congress controls how many people each military service can have. That ceiling is set in the National Defense Authorization Act every year. Raising it requires requirements, justification, infrastructure, and a pipeline, and the Space Force is building all of it simultaneously. In this conversation, CMSSF Bentivegna discusses: Why end strength growth starts with requirements, not headcount, and what China's on-orbit capabilities have to do with that mathHow the Space Force's enlisted-led operator model works, and why it's the right design for a warfighting domainWhat a Guardian on console actually does, and how officers, NCOs, and civilians each fit into an operations floorThe World-Class Master Sergeant initiative and why developing elite E-7s is the key to scaling quality without diluting itWhere the next 10,000 Guardians actually come from, recruits, cross-service transfers, ROTC, OTS, and the Personnel Management ActWhat SPAFORGEN is, why you can't train for high-intensity conflict while running daily operations, and how that tension drives force sizingGuardian Arena, what it is, what it tests, and why it's becoming the cultural centerpiece of the serviceThe Space Force was built for this moment. The question is whether it will be built big enough, fast enough, to meet it. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, CMSSF John Bentivegna The senior enlisted leader of the United States Space Force, responsible for the health, welfare, development, and utilization of all enlisted Guardians. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    50 min

  8. May 15

    The Lab Behind the Force: How Military Research Becomes Space Warfighting Capability

    Most people have never heard of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The Space Force couldn't exist without it. Dr. Andy Williams has been at AFRL since 2003, long enough to watch the space domain go from what he calls a "relatively benign environment" to a fully contested warfighting domain. He now serves as AFRL's Deputy Technology Executive Officer for Space: the single point of contact between the lab and the U.S. Space Force, responsible for making sure the science that starts on a whiteboard at Kirtland actually ends up in a Guardian's hands. He's the conductor. And in this conversation, recorded live on the Redwire Stage at the 41st Space Symposium, he and SFA Founder Bill Woolf trace the full pipeline, from basic research to operational capability, and don't flinch on where it breaks. In this episode: Why Dr. Williams says space is now more important to the joint fight than air — and what that demands from a research labWhat the "conductor" role actually looks like day to day, coordinating across AFRL's directorates at the seams, and where the baton gets dropped most oftenHow a service still defining itself translates operational gaps into concrete research priorities — and why the only model that works treats S&T, acquisition, and operators as one teamWhat always gets cut first in a resource-constrained environment, and why that's a problem that compounds like debtThe ROSA story: three attempts, a decade of basic research, new materials no one planned to develop — and what it teaches about what it actually takes to get a technology across the finish line for the Space ForceWhy science and technology is exactly like a retirement account — and what decades of cuts have cost the service that's supposed to be the most technologically advanced in the worldDynamic space operations: the capability Dr. Williams believes could be decisive in future conflict, why the U.S. isn't leading it, and what he means when he says the Space Force needs velocity — not just speed Recorded at the Redwire Stage at the 41st Space Symposium. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday AV by Redwire Production Support by Omar Mahmoud & Emily Honhart Dr. Andrew "Andy" Williams is the Deputy Technology Executive Officer for Space at the Air Force Research Laboratory. He serves as AFRL's primary point of contact for the U.S. Space Force, integrating and executing the lab's space science and technology investment strategy and leading engagement across DoD, the Intelligence Community, NASA, industry, and academia. He has been at AFRL since 2003. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Learn more about AFRL: https://www.afrl.af.mil/ Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

    32 min
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About

Spacepower is a strategic podcast from the Space Force Association exploring the leaders, ideas, and operations shaping the space domain. Hosted by SFA Founder Bill “Hippie” Woolf, the show features conversations with senior military leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on deterrence, maneuver, technology, and the evolving role of space in national security. Episodes include in-depth interviews and solo analysis breaking down the trends defining the future of spacepower.

Information

  • Creator
    Space Force Association
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Space Force Association
  • Show Website
    Spacepower Podcast

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