AFA 2026: The Intelligence Priorities Shaping Air and Space Dominance
This month, the Janes team will be heading to the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA) Air, Space & Cyber Conference—one of the premier forums for military leaders, policymakers, and industry partners shaping the future of air and space power. This year's theme, "Advancing Air & Space Dominance: An Urgent Call to Build and Sustain the Forces," reflects the growing pressure on defense organizations to modernize, maintain readiness, and make faster, more informed decisions in a rapidly evolving threat environment.
Ahead of the conference, we spoke with Doug Grover, Janes Director of Sales, about the intelligence and decision-support challenges facing Air Force and Space Force leaders today. From data quality and integrated decision-making to Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), readiness planning, and developments in the space domain, Doug shares his perspective on the trends, priorities, and key themes likely to shape discussions at this year's event.
This year's AFA conference theme is "Advancing Air & Space Dominance: An Urgent Call to Build and Sustain the Forces." From your viewpoint, what are the biggest intelligence and decision-support challenges facing Air Force and Space Force leaders as they work toward that goal?
Doug Grover: Air and space dominance ultimately comes down to decision advantage. Leaders today have access to more information than ever before, but they're also being asked to make critical decisions faster against a backdrop of greater strategic and operational complexity.
One of the biggest challenges is maintaining a clear understanding of evolving threats while keeping pace with a constant flow of intelligence that changes by the minute. Whether the focus is force readiness, modernization, operational risk, or emerging adversary capabilities, organizations need intelligence that delivers clarity, context, and confidence at speed.
We're also seeing increased emphasis on long-term planning and wargaming. Air Force and Space Force leaders are looking five, ten, and even fifteen years into the future to understand how threats may evolve and what capabilities will be required to counter them. That requires not only accurate intelligence, but the ability to connect information across multiple domains and translate it into decision-grade insight for military leaders.
Adding to the challenge, intelligence and operational data often reside in different, siloed systems. Significant progress has been made through initiatives designed to integrate and fuse information from disparate sources, but creating a truly shared operational understanding across the enterprise remains an ongoing priority.
Air and space operators are being asked to make faster decisions in extremely complex operational environments. What intelligence capabilities are organizations looking for today that they may not have prioritized even a few years ago?
Doug Grover: One of the biggest shifts has been the growing demand for speed, integration, and accessibility. Decision-makers still require the same depth and rigor in intelligence, but they also need answers faster and in a format that supports real-time decision-making.
Initiatives such as CJADC2 and the Air Force's Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management (C3BM) efforts reflect this evolution. The goal is to create an environment where information from a wide range of sensors and systems can be connected, shared, and acted upon more effectively across the force.
At the same time, we're seeing increasing interest in automation and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled workflows that can help analysts and operators process larger volumes of data more efficiently. While AI can accelerate analysis and support decision-making, human judgment remains central, particularly when it comes to operational and strategic decisions.
Perhaps most importantly, organizations are placing a much greater emphasis on data quality. As the speed of decision-making increases, confidence in the underlying information becomes even more critical. The effectiveness of advanced analytics, automation, and AI depends on the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of the data that powers them.
As you prepare to meet with attendees at AFA, what conversations or key themes do you expect to hear most often from Air Force, Space Force, and industry stakeholders?
Doug Grover: I expect many conversations will focus on readiness, modernization, and maintaining decision advantage in highly contested environments.
For the Air Force, questions around budget priorities, force modernization, fleet recapitalization, and strategic programs will likely remain front and center. Balancing near-term readiness requirements with long-term modernization efforts continues to be a major challenge, particularly as organizations work to sustain aging platforms while introducing next-generation capabilities.
The Space Force faces a different, but equally demanding, set of priorities. Space has become a critical operational domain, and the pace of activity continues to accelerate. As new capabilities are deployed and competitors increase their presence in orbit, maintaining awareness and understanding of the space environment becomes a critical priority.
Across both services, I also expect to hear a great deal about data, agility, and decision-making. Whether the discussion centers on AI, advanced analytics, operational planning, or CJADC2, the underlying question is often the same: how do we ensure leaders have access to accurate, relevant information that enables faster and more confident decisions?
How have the intelligence questions being asked by Air Force and Space Force stakeholders evolved over the past few years, and what does that tell us about the challenges they're preparing for?
Doug Grover: The questions have become broader, more interconnected, and increasingly future-focused.
A few years ago, many intelligence requirements centered on understanding a specific platform, system, or capability. Those questions still matter, but today's leaders are laser-focused on understanding how capabilities, technologies, industrial capacity, geopolitical developments, and operational outcomes influence one another.
This shift is particularly visible in space-related intelligence requirements. Stakeholders are seeking greater insight into the rapidly evolving space domain, including emerging capabilities, launch activity, satellite behavior, and the broader implications these developments may have for future operations.
What this tells us is that military leaders are preparing for an environment where threats, technologies, and operational requirements are evolving simultaneously. Success ultimately depends on the ability to move beyond collecting information and generate the context, understanding, and foresight needed to support strategic decision-making.
Meet Doug Grover and the Janes Team at Booth MB230
Want to learn more about the intelligence challenges shaping the future of air and space operations?
Visit Janes at Booth MB230 during AFA 2026 to meet with our experts, including Doug Grover, and discuss the issues explored in this interview. Attendees can also see live demonstrations of Janes capabilities, including how validated defense intelligence data and analysis support mission planning, wargaming, force development, operational readiness, and faster decision-making.
Schedule a meeting with the Janes team ahead of the event and continue the conversation in person.
