Employing successful modern combat aerospace power today and in the future demands questioning long-standing assumptions and seeking smarter ways of achieving desired mission goals.
A Growing Threat
With the threat environment growing far more dangerous, aerospace capabilities once considered survivable and resilient are now increasingly unable to execute their missions. Adversaries are defending their own territory with increasingly sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems, fighter aircraft, and electronic warfare systems. They are also projecting power far forward, leaving US operating bases at risk. This demands significant changes regarding aerospace force composition, strategies, operational concepts, and tactics.
A Growing Threat
With the threat environment growing far more dangerous, aerospace capabilities once considered survivable and resilient are now increasingly unable to execute their missions. Adversaries are defending their own territory with increasingly sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems, fighter aircraft, and electronic warfare systems. They are also projecting power far forward, leaving US operating bases at risk. This demands significant changes regarding aerospace force composition, strategies, operational concepts, and tactics.
Effective, Efficient Operations
Projecting aerospace power prudently also demands doing so in the most effective, efficient fashion possible. For too long leaders have focused upon how much aircraft and associated systems cost to buy. They place too little emphasis upon what it costs to achieve mission goals in a real world, enterprise fashion. Penny-wise, pound foolish is a strategy imbued with unsustainable costs and often leads to suboptimal decision making. Building the aerospace force required for success in the future will demand a smarter path forward.
Effective, Efficient Operations
Projecting aerospace power prudently also demands doing so in the most effective, efficient fashion possible. For too long leaders have focused upon how much aircraft and associated systems cost to buy. They place too little emphasis upon what it costs to achieve mission goals in a real world, enterprise fashion. Penny-wise, pound foolish is a strategy imbued with unsustainable costs and often leads to suboptimal decision making. Building the aerospace force required for success in the future will demand a smarter path forward.
Understanding Information-Age Aerospace Operations
Aerospace power in the modern age also demands far more than the traditional tools of power—aircraft, satellites, and munitions. Just as civilian society has revolutionized the way in which it interacts with information through smart phones and ubiquitous connectivity, so too have military aerospace missions. The ability to gather data, process it into actionable information, and collaborate with other battlespace actors in a real-time fashion, a concept known as the combat cloud, stands as an increasingly important model.
Understanding Information-Age Aerospace Operations
Aerospace power in the modern age also demands far more than the traditional tools of power—aircraft, satellites, and munitions. Just as civilian society has revolutionized the way in which it interacts with information through smart phones and ubiquitous connectivity, so too have military aerospace missions. The ability to gather data, process it into actionable information, and collaborate with other battlespace actors in a real-time fashion, a concept known as the combat cloud, stands as an increasingly important model.
