AFA mag: Space—The Next 50 Years

Published: Feb 05, 2005
Source: www.afa.org



We look at space support like oxygen. If you have it, you take it for granted. If you don’t have it, it’s the only thing you want.”

So said James G. Roche, then Secretary of the Air Force, at the Air Force Association’s 2004 Los Angeles National Symposium, which commemorated the Air Force’s 50 years of involvement in military space and missile activities.

Speakers noted that the service has come a long, long way from the days when it was racing to counter the Soviets early in the Cold War. Space is no longer a mysterious entity whose value has to be sold to top Air Force and Pentagon officials.

Secretary James G. Roche

As Roche’s comment made plain, space systems are now so interwoven in US military operations that all forces might grind to a halt without them.continue..