WASHINGTON — Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach is expected to be named as the Trump administration’s official choice for Air Force chief of staff, three sources told Breaking Defense.
If confirmed, Wilsbach will replace Gen. David Allvin, who unexpectedly announced last month that he would retire in November, halfway through his four-year term.
The Air Force declined to comment on the status of the nomination. The White House did not respond to an after-hours request for comment by press time.
President Donald Trump has been known to change his mind, so a switch is always possible until the decision is formally sent to the Senate and announced by the Defense Department. But two of the sources who spoke with Breaking Defense say they expect Congress to be notified in the coming days that Wilsbach is the choice.
Wilsbach’s path to the top uniformed Air Force post has been unusual compared to the typically rote and bureaucratic nomination process.
On Aug. 11, the Air Force four-star stepped down from his position as head of Air Combat Command, ahead of his intended retirement. But seven days later, Allvin’s early exit was announced, and shortly thereafter multiple sources told Breaking Defense that Wilsbach had emerged as the frontrunner for the chief of staff job, in part due to his prior assignment as commander of Pacific Air Forces.
However, Wilsbach’s potential nomination appeared to be stalled after social media accounts mounted a campaign calling out his previous statements supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. That campaign instead promoted Air Force Global Strike Command head Gen. Thomas Bussiere, then nominated for the vice chief of staff, as a potential contender for the chief of staff job. (Bussiere’s nomination for vice chief has since been pulled, Aviation Week reported earlier this month.)
Constantly evolving aerial threats demand training that adapts accordingly
With potential adversaries no longer predictable, training must move beyond just live exercises and flight simulators.
The unprecedented campaigning for the service’s top military role became the talk of the Air Force community, and was a hot topic among attendees at the Air and Space Forces Association conference this week. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink in a briefing with reporters on Monday downplayed concerns that the service would be left leaderless in its top uniformed position.
While noting that the Trump administration ultimately has to select a nominee, “the bottom line is we will not not have a chief. Gen. Allvin and I will make sure that we have a chief,” he said.
Wilsbach is a fighter pilot by craft, having flown aircraft like the F-22 Raptor, F-15 and F-16. If selected, he would guide the service during a critical window, as fears mount that China could invade Taiwan and invoke a US response. In his own right, Wilsbach has commanded forces amid what he called “completely unprofessional and totally unsafe” intercepts by Chinese pilots.
“What’s disturbing is … their typical response is, ‘This is your fault, because this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t here,’” Wilsbach told reporters in September 2023, regarding cases where American officials have been able to confront their Chinese counterparts on the intercepts.
“Do it safely, do it professionally and everybody will be okay,” Wilsbach said. “We won’t have a miscalculation. We won’t have a disaster.”
Michael Marrow contributed to this report.