Senate confirms Troy Meink as 27th secretary of the Air Force

Troy Meink is set to become the new civilian leader for the Air and Space Forces after being confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday.

Senators voted 74-25 to approve Meink as the 27th Secretary of the Air Force, making him the third and final of President Donald Trump’s service secretary nominees to be confirmed during his second term.

In his new role, Meink will be the top civilian official for the Department of the Air Force — which also includes the Space Force — as it undertakes a wide range of modernization efforts.

Meink has a deep background of previous military and government service. He entered the Air Force in 1988 through the ROTC program, and served as a KC-135 Stratotanker navigator and instructor, as well as a test engineer for ballistic missile test vehicles at the Missile Defense Agency.

More recently, Meink was the deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space under the Obama administration until he was tapped in 2020 by the first Trump administration to serve as principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, which is charged with developing and operating spy satellites and related technologies.

As Meink takes charge of the Department of the Air Force, he will be responsible for guiding both the Air and Space Forces through efforts to upgrade key systems and capabilities across all of their core mission areas. During his confirmation hearing in March, lawmakers asked Meink how he would address challenges with balancing the department’s modernization efforts with current readiness needs.

“One of the first things I plan to do is take a holistic look at all the modernization and all the readiness bills that we have coming. And then I will put together and advocate for what resources I think are necessary to execute all of those missions,” he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

As secretary, Meink will play a key role in continued development of key Air Force platforms and weapons systems — including the sixth-generation F-47 fighter jet, Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, the B-21 Raider stealth bomber and the troubled LGM-35A Sentinel missile program. The Air Force is also in the midst of upgrading its command-and-control architecture, AI capabilities, and cyber and IT tools.

For the Space Force, Meink will oversee satellite programs, such as the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. The service is also on a path to partner more closely with commercial industry, while also advocating for more attention to be given to critical counterspace operations. 

After he’s sworn into office, Meink will be required to review the Department of the Air Force’s sweeping reorganization effort known as Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition. The plans were introduced in 2024 during the Biden administration by then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and put into motion. However, early in the second Trump administration Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the DAF to pause work until a new Senate-confirmed secretary and undersecretary could review the initiative.

Matthew Lohmeier, who previously served as a Space Force lieutenant colonel but was relieved from his post in 2021, has been tapped to serve as Air Force undersecretary. His Senate confirmation hearing was held May 1, but it’s unclear when senators plan to vote on his confirmation.

Although Meink has more experience at the Defense Department compared to Trump’s other service secretary picks, his nomination did not come without controversy. Following a report from Reuters that Meink arranged a multibillion-dollar contract to favor SpaceX, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois asked Meink to provide information about his relationship with Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and key Trump advisor.

“These reports raise concerns about your ability, if confirmed as Secretary, to treat contractors fairly and prioritize the Air Force’s mission over Elon Musk’s business interests,” Warren and Duckworth wrote in a letter to Meink in February.

While Meink’s relationship with Musk and SpaceX did not come up during his confirmation hearing, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., probed him on rumors that SDA is planning to cancel contracts for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture and replace them with a sole-source award for SpaceX’s Starshield capability. Meink claimed that he was not aware of any such considerations, but said he would investigate them, if confirmed.

“One of the things that I’ve pushed for — particularly over the last 10 years — is to expand competition and expand the industry base,” Meink told lawmakers. “That ends up almost always with the best result, both from capability and cost to the government.”