General Ken Wilsbach
Air Force Chief of Staff
Kenneth Stephen Wilsbach was born in 1963. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville. He received master’s degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla., Naval Command and Staff College, and Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort Lesley J. McNair. He availed himself of multiple military academic opportunities.
Wilsbach went through pilot training at Laughlin AFB. He served as an instructor pilot at Langley AFB, Tyndall AFB, and Kadena Air Base. He became a commander after serving as an operations officer. He served as commander over the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force, the Alaska Command, and the 11th Air Force. He then commanded the Air Component Command of the United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command. He commanded the 7th Air Force and the Pacific Air Forces before serving as air component commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, then as executive director of the Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff.
Wilsbach commanded the Air Combat Command before retiring in August 2025. He was recalled to active duty when he was nominated to be the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff. The Senate confirmed him in November 2025.
General Wilsbach is a command pilot with more than 6,200 flying hours and has flown 71 combat missions.
In the News…
Air Force Chief of Staff Ken Wilsbach spoke about the readiness of pilots, maintainers, health care workers and others to respond to a complex and ambiguous strategic environment.
At the Air and Space Forces Association’s 2026 Warfare Symposium, General Wilsbach stated, “Our adversaries are designing their strategies around speed – speed of decision, movement, and mass.”
“They believe they can move faster than we can respond, complicate our choices and force us into reaction instead of initiative,” the general said. “They are betting that distance, complexity, and bureaucracy will slow us down. It is a serious challenge, and it demands urgency and unity of effort.”
He highlighted the USAF’s three priorities: readiness, modernization, and “taking care of our Airmen and families.” General Wilsbach said of readiness, “We are making deliberate, long-term decisions that secure our dominance. These decisions must be fully resourced, to prevent us from passing today’s readiness challenges to tomorrow’s Airmen.”
