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General Lance Lord
Commander, Air Force Space Command
AFA National Symposium, Orlando
February 13, 2003
General Lord: It is an honor for me to be here on behalf of the
40,000 men and women of Air Force Space Command. I am in trouble right
to start with, though, I didn’t graduate from Texas A&M! I didn’t even
know where Texas A&M was until I came into the Air Force and I heard
somebody mention it. I went to Otterbein, not Otter “Bean,” I just
wanted to remind you of that. But it is great for me to be with you this
afternoon. All of you.
I’d like to start the next three and a half hours with a little
bandwidth on demand! I want to tell a people story. I know the Chief
talks about this on occasion and it is important for us to remember. As
we talked about, the best way to predict the future is to invent it and
we are shaping the future as we work. Many of you in this room know
exactly what I am talking about--certainly those of you who have gone
through basic military training at Lackland. How many of you in the room
went through it? A lot of our enlisted professionals plus some who have
moved on to other jobs after they’ve gotten out of our Air Force have.
But what was unique to me, and I know Don Cook gets to see this every
Friday down there, was something we can describe using the ‘T’ word.
What these young men and women go through is a transformation, it really
is. I think it is one of the keys to transformation, and Hal Hornburg
and others who have been in 2nd Air Force got to see that process after
six weeks of going through basic military training. You see them on
graduation day and, in some cases, after going through that process they
meet up with their moms and dads and, as the Chief tells the story,
sometimes they have to shake their mom and dad and say, “Mom, Dad, it’s
me! It’s me!” They don’t recognize them because they’ve gone through
this marvelous transformation.
They’ve taken them from places all over our great country and, through
that process, transformed them into airmen in our United States Air
Force--after six weeks. But what I found really interesting about the
process was something that happens after they greet their moms and dads,
they all embrace and everybody gets their picture taken. Then, the
airmen get back together and head back to the place where they are
living or they’re going to get their stuff together to move off to their
next initial skills training. Whenever you see two airmen side by side,
they automatically fall in and they are walking in formation. Who says
you can’t affect perceptions? Who says you can’t change the way people
think about things? Who says you can’t invigorate the fighting spirit of
the young men and women of America in six weeks? And we just keep ‘em
climbing through that process. I firmly believe, and I’ll talk a little
bit more about this as I go through my comments, I think the key to
transformation--oh sure, it is about technology, but it is really about
the key transforming agent for our United States Air Force--the people
that we work with day-in and day-out and that we develop. I want to work
that thread through with you.
I come here from Space Command, not from space! But space is not about
space. What space is about is creating combat capability that can be
integrated into air, land and sea operations. I see my job in that kind
of framework. The Chief talked earlier, Hal did as well and I know my
friend Paul Hester is going to come up after me and will say the same
thing but it’s important to have a strong operational framework and
we’ve got to build upon that framework. We’ve adopted the CONOPS
strategy and are using that to help us guide our programs and to guide
the development of our combat capability.
Frameworks are very important for us. What I’d like to do is go through
my framework--the three things that I’ve adopted to really focus [the
Command] on and talk a little bit about those. That will be my first of,
as you might suspect, my three main points given my Air University
background! As my second point, I want to talk about what it means to do
just what Pete-O and all the Air Warfare Symposium folks wanted us to
talk about--what are the real challenges for the future? I would
maintain that the real challenge is maintaining that asymmetric
advantage that air and space power brings to the integrated joint fight.
And then the third point will be talking about the people.
Let me step back from that and lay out why I think frameworks are
important. I’ll borrow from TV--anybody here watch ESPN? Come on, you
can admit it, a little audience participation! How many of you have seen
the commercial that says, “Where would we be without sports?”
Well, we met in Los Angeles in November and had a Space Symposium with
the Air Force Association. I was lucky enough--and some of you heard me
talk about this, but I want to go into more detail--to have a chance to
visit with the Los Angeles Lakers and to meet Phil Jackson and Tex
Winter, the assistant coach, and Shaquille O’Neal. We need Shaquille on
the assured access to space program; that is a large human, I’ll tell
you! He is a wonderful man whose father served in the United States Army
and, when I got to see him, he popped me a salute. I was really taken
aback by that. But he said, “General Lord, we appreciate what you and
all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces do.” So, that
made me feel good, having a chance to meet that gent.
But we were talking about frameworks, and many of you know that Phil
Jackson is the father of the triangle offense in the NBA. Now, the
triangle offense is a complicated offense because it is hard to run. You
have to practice it, you have to execute it and it has been successful
for Phil Jackson. He inherited Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Now
Doug Collins coached Michael Jordan for eight years before Phil Jackson
got there and they didn’t win a single trophy. But what Phil Jackson did
with the triangle offense and his philosophy of awareness and
selflessness was he raised everybody up to the same level. He brought
the team together in a framework.
You couldn’t be successful without a big center playing for the Chicago
Bulls. Well, they had Bill Winnington, they had Bill Cartwright and they
had Luke Longley. None of those three guys were by any stretch of the
imagination a guy like Shaquille O’Neal. They weren’t great centers, but
what he did, he ran the triangle offense. So, I had a chance to talk to
Phil Jackson about that and I talked to Tex Winter, the assistant coach.
I told him, “Coach, this famed triangle offense really is important.”
And he said, “Well, General, it’s not about the offense. It’s about how
you execute. How you execute your framework; how you execute your
strategy.”
I think that is something for us to do--we have to have a framework. We
have to have a strategy. But we’ve got to execute and our strategy and
our CONOPS are based on many things. They are founded on our core values
and reinforced by things that our Secretary and Chief talked recently
about, our core competencies, and demonstrated day-in and day-out as we
work the program. As we think through the future, and get ready to shape
an event in this great world we are going to live in, we’ve got to
remember that we’ve got to stick to our framework. I think the Chief and
the Secretary have us on the right vector with the CONOPS and I’ll talk
more about that as we go.
My CONOPS, my framework, has really been to do three things since I took
command. Number one is we are going to emphasize the “organize, train
and equip” mission of Air Force Space Command 24/7/365. That’s not to
say that my predecessors weren’t good leaders and couldn’t do that job,
but anytime you wear three hats, you’ve got to worry about which hat you
are wearing. I’ve got one hat and that is Air Force Space Command,
24/7/365. We are organizing, training and equipping space and ICBM
forces to create combat capability in support of our objectives.
We’ve taken a couple steps since April--well, really since October
2001--with the integration of the Space and Missile Systems Center as
part of Air Force Space Command. Lieutenant General Brian Arnold and his
team are now part of Air Force Space Command, so we’ve really got [our
capabilities and systems] from concept through development--employment
through sustainment--all part of Air Force Space Command. That is a
model that is starting to work and I think it is going to pay off for us
in the future because the people that work at SMC in Los Angeles speak
with the full weight of the command, especially as it relates to the
requirements process. Hal talked about how important it is to be
requirements driven, and that is certainly true with respect to the
development of space systems. We’ve got to be requirements driven to
support the development of combat capability so that Sue Mashiko, the
program manager for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or Mark
Borkowski, who is the program manager for the Space-Based Infra-red
System, or Mike Dunn, who is the program manager for the Titan IV and
the Delta II systems, or Al Ballenger who is working GPS, or Jim Painter
who is working Space-based Radar, can speak with the full weight of the
MAJCOM.
We’ve got to have an urgent and compelling requirements process to make
sure that we baseline these programs and stick to it. With the Secretary
of the Air Force’s help, and certainly with the Chief and the Vice Chief
and the Under-, we’ve been able to put the full pressure of the Air
Force on our programs. And I think we have finally got a baseline we can
stick with in the SBIRS program and we are going to be able to deliver
that. Sure, we are going to have some technology issues we’ve got to
work but we’ve got a management and leadership team devoted to
stabilizing that program. That has been one of the benefits of sticking
to our framework.
Organize, train and equip is important. I consider those the inputs, not
only on the space side, but also on the ICBM side as well. We work those
hard, day-in and day-out.
Now, the second aspect of the initial framework at Air Force Space
Command is really to be a good component and work the output side of the
business. We’ve worked hard now under our new arrangement with Admiral
Ellis to be the ICBM and space component for the new U.S. Strategic
Command, and that provides us great opportunities to think differently
about the future.
That [arrangement] is paying off in how we develop and maintain our
capabilities because we’ve got a direct four star to four star dialog
with Admiral Ellis about how we want to present outputs on a day-to-day
basis. Through Mike Hamel at 14th Air Force and Tim McMahon and his
folks in 20th Air Force in the ICBM business, we are working hard on the
output side of the business.
Now the third part of the initial framework is working with Mr. Teets,
the Under Secretary of the Air Force, supporting the Air Force’s role as
the DoD Executive Agent for Space and certainly our Air Force in the
National Security Space Arena. We want to make sure that Mr. Teets is
successful in his role in delivering the kind of capabilities that he
wants as the Under Secretary.
One of the things that he has really been after us on and we’ve talked
about is mission assurance for the space launch programs. Assured access
to space is important for us. He also has worked hard with the Secretary
and the Chief on making sure that we get our acquisition programs back
on track in the space business. Not only do we have to work on our [AFSPC]
acquisition community, but we also have to work with our industry
partners like Miles Crandall from Lockheed Martin and the SBIRS
program…or the EELV folks, Boeing and their Delta IV team and the Atlas
V folks from Lockheed Martin. It has been an important process and I
think we are starting to mature it. At the same time we focus on our
acquisition process, we’ve also got to control the requirements. I see
my job as the commander of Air Force Space Command to work with our
Director of Requirements and to work with our Director of Operations to
make sure that we have a good solid operational concept as well as an
urgent and compelling requirements process so that we don’t get into the
continued changing of the baseline of a program and have trouble
delivering a program to the programmed amount. That makes Duncan McNabb
happy as our XP and also the FM as we are able to deliver the program
with the capability. So, we are working hard in that respect.
Really, those are the three things I’ve been focusing on since April
19th. Now, let’s talk a little bit about what it means to maintain that
asymmetric advantage that air and space, as it works together, is able
to confer to the joint warfighter.
How have things changed since Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the
space business? They certainly changed a lot in position, navigation and
timing--certainly with respect to GPS. If you go back to what happened
in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, we had about half the satellites
we’ve got deployed right now and the position, navigation and accuracy
was working fairly well then but it is certainly working a lot better
with a full constellation presenting accurate timing and signals right
now.
If you go back and ask people during the Desert Shield/Desert Storm
timeframe what they thought about the space assets and the space
contributions to Desert Shield and Desert Storm, you could take the
words of a young Marine. I don’t think he would say it now, but then he
said, “I had my M16 and this little box. I didn’t need any of that space
stuff. This little box told me exactly where I was.” That is, I guess,
seamless integration to the warfighter. He didn’t need to know where it
came from, but it worked! We’re going to continue to do that…though now,
I think we’ve gone from a technology push to a technology pull as we
support theater operations. Space is integral to the warfighter. Our
Secretary has mentioned that, the Chief mentions that and we believe it
as a command!
So, with GPS, we will continue to modernize the system. We just recently
had the launch of GPS IIR-8, adding to our constellation. We’ve got a
faster check-out process between the 1st Space Operations Squadron and
the 2nd Space Operations Squadron so we will get the navigation and
timing payloads on-line faster. We will continue to modernize with the
IIR-Modified and then the IIF spacecraft. And then GPS-III will come,
with a continued focus on military signal, civilian safety of flight and
position navigation and timing for the warfighter. Those capabilities
will continue to be improved.
Let’s take a look at missile warning, an important ingredient in Desert
Shield and Desert Storm. In the early days of Desert Shield and Desert
Storm, missile warning was done by a phone call. We called the theater
and said, “Look out!” And then we tried to identify what type and what
kind of activity we were dealing with and then give them some idea of a
launch point. We’ve improved [our capabilities] since then in many ways.
We developed, in early 1993, an Attack and Launch Early Reporting to
Theater [ALERT] capability where we were able to fuse some sensor
information from our space-based capabilities and deliver that quickly
to the theater. A few years later, we came with the Joint Tactical
Ground Station, JTAGS, to the Army and the Navy, so that they could have
direct report into the theater. And just three months ago, we achieved
initial operational capability of the Space-Based Infra-red System,
SBIRS, Mission Control Station located at Buckley AFB and the 2nd Space
Warning Squadron. This capability provides integrated ground-system
processing of both tactical and strategic sensor capabilities, and
provides fused “first detect, first report” information to the theater.
That is an important ingredient in theater warfighting--to understand
that, be able to get the state vectors, provide the information to the
theater so that they can take whatever action is required. Additionally,
it is a key step as we move on and improve our capabilities beyond the
Defense Support Program [DSP] with the Space-Based Infra-Red System.
That future capability will support missile defense, technical
intelligence, battlefield characterization and improved tactical warning
and attack assessment from space-based capabilities.
We’ve worked hard in the satellite communications business since Desert
Shield and Desert Storm. We have a combination of commercial as well as
military communications, including protected communications provided by
the MILSTAR satellite constellation. We’ll have another MILSTAR launch
here, we hope, in about 30 days or so that will provide another MILSTAR
satellite into that constellation. And when we get that up, we’ll have
85 percent of the theaters in the global sense, covered by medium
data-rate, protected communications. That will allow us to take an ATO,
an air tasking order, that used to take an hour and about 20 minutes to
be transmitted and we’ll be able to transmit it in eight seconds over
MILSTAR…and that is through protected communications. We’re also working
on wide-band comm with the Defense Satellite Communications System.
Another DSCS satellite is scheduled to go up in early March that will
add to the constellation. We’ll continue the wide-band and then our
narrow-band UHF work, plus, we’ve got a modernization strategy laid out,
as the Chief showed you on his chart.
As you look at what is going to happen in theater deployments in the
future--smaller footprint in-theater with large bandwidth requirements.
Now, Harry Raduege gets it at DISA. He has got component-like
capabilities that he is able to present from his agency and Harry has
been working since the early days of his assignment to that program to
make sure that the warfighter had his capabilities. So, with the
combination of protected wide-band and narrow-band--plus what is
available commercially--we’ll put satellite communications connectivity
into the hands of the warfighter.
Ten times the bandwidth, one-tenth the footprint. And some say 60
percent of the bandwidth was consumed by power point briefings! I’m not
sure that is true, but. . . The important thing, though, is that we are
looking at a transformational communications architecture that will give
us more capability for the future. But it is my view that bandwidth is
like software. We’ll consume it as fast as we get it. And we need to do
a little bandwidth appetite suppression, from the user side. Bandwidth
is not a free good; it is something you have to think about. Here is the
reason why you’ve got to have a solid CONOPS for your military strategy.
It will help us as a community deal with the emerging bandwidth
requirements in the future.
Another area that we should talk about…something that has changed since
Desert Shield and Desert Storm…is what we are doing in the ICBM
business. In the Cold War days, we looked at the ICBM force side-by-side
with the former Soviet Union and kind of looked at the comparative throw
weights--that was how we did business. But, now that the Cold War is
over, we can look at things in a capabilities-based as opposed to a
threat-based model. We can think about the ICBM and the people that
maintain and secure it in terms of that might make sense for the
future--taking advantage of the attributes of that system: the speed,
the range, the accuracy, and the precision. Although we have a smaller
force today, we are continuing to modernize with the propulsion
replacement and guidance replacement [programs]. Additionally, we’re
looking at, as part of General Jumper’s and the Secretary’s look at
long-range strike, the future of these capabilities. Capabilities that
will be part of an integrated, harmonized strategy for the future.
That’s a little bit about how we continue to maintain our asymmetric
advantage. It is important that we work that and bring the capabilities
from space to integrate with the warfight. As I said, our basic
fundamental structure and strategy is based on our [Air Force] core
competencies--developing airmen, as the Secretary has talked about,
transitioning technology to the warfighter, and integrating our
operations.
It was General Jumper who talked about how it is important to think
about space, and to differentiate space from air. The cultures are
different, but we’ve got to integrate the capabilities. We’ve got to do
it based on an operational framework. I think it is important to
remember that we are not doing space just for space purposes. We are
doing space for air, land and sea purposes in an integrated kind of way
that is based on a solid operational concept. That way we will set
ourselves up for the future in space. Then, as technologies mature, it
will be time to take things, in an integrated way, to the future that
the Chief talked about-- manned, unmanned, and space platforms
integrated without regard for the medium in which they operate. Talk
about machine-to-machine level conversations… I mean, I’ve been working
with my folks to disabuse them of some notions we’ve got. Could you
imagine if you were a satellite—this is a wild stretch, but if one
satellite was talking to the other satellite and said, “Which booster
are you going to ride on? Are you going to ride on the Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle or are you riding on a legacy system?” Well,
we can’t talk about legacy in this business because if you are going to
fly a satellite, you want every rocket to be the best it can be. We’ve
got to make sure that we adjust our CONOPS to focus on what the real
requirement is. And that [requirement] is to get the payload on orbit so
we can generate the capability.
That is the approach we are taking with the Evolved Expendable Launch
Vehicle. That is the approach we are taking as we fly out the Titan IV,
Delta II and some Titan II assets. So, we will continue to do that, but
it’s all based on our CONOPS and framework.
So, point one was my original strategy. Point two was maintaining our
asymmetric advantage. Now let’s talk about the people.
I think you will agree, or you wouldn’t be here, that people are the key
agent in transformation. They work hard to make that [transformation]
happen, but we’ve got to grow the culture [that they’re working in] the
right way. We certainly have to do it in space. Mr. Teets made a speech
back in November. He talked about how successful we’ve been in the air
business. First off, to be successful in the air, what did we do? We
recognized the value of gaining and maintaining the high ground. Then
what did we do? We took the technology that we developed--the air
machine--and used it to help prosecute combat. Then thirdly, how did we
plan for success in the future? We developed a culture of airmanship
around the machine and the environment we operated it in. We have to do
the same in space. If we are going to be successful in space, we have to
focus on those same three fundamentals and it will certainly pay off.
But it has got to be based on a solid operational construct.
One of my tasks, and we’ve sent our strategy to the Secretary and the
Chief, is to create that space culture and a space cadre that
understands space, understands the systems engineering requirements and
is smart enough to deal with problems in an operationally solid sense.
So, we established our basic strategy and we will continue to grow
people in the future. I think that will be the key to transformation
that will ensure that when the technology matures, we are ready to
migrate our capabilities to the medium of space.
Some would say, “Ok, that all sounds good, but what is going to happen?
Are we going to have war in space?” It has already started. If someone
tries to interfere with space-based capabilities like the GPS signal,
they are trying to deny us our advantage. We are already having to think
about that. We have to got to be ready. It is not a matter of if
something like that is going to happen; it is a matter of when, and
we’ve got to be ready. We need to think about that and we have to
develop that operational concept.
We must adapt our strategy, maintain an asymmetric advantage, work with
our most wonderful assets, the people that we are bringing into the
system. Not only do we have to work our technical issues, but I would
argue that the best thing we could do is unleash the rich human
potential we have in this business. I don’t think we’ve seen anything
yet, in that respect.
I had the opportunity to be at the Johnson Space Center on Tuesday this
past week when the President spoke down there at the memorial for the
Columbia Seven astronauts of STS-107. We got a chance to talk to some of
the families since then, and to the [NASA] folks, and everyone is
grieving--you know that as well as I do. But to a person, do you know
what they say? They say, “Let’s push on. Let’s get moving. Let’s solve
these problems and let’s keep going.” That is the spirit that exists in
NASA. We are partners with them and we will work together in the future.
I’m delighted we are able to help them and our hearts go out to Rick
Husband’s and Mike Anderson’s families, as well as to the families of
the other members of that crew. They are Air Force folks and we are
especially grieving with them, but their spirit is alive. STS-107, the
spirit is alive and will continue to push us and urge us to go into the
future.
Lastly, let me return back to Lackland--another story from my time as
Commander of 2nd Air Force.
Down there on the first day--I talked about the last day, let’s go back
to the first day. Some of you in this room probably remember your first
day at basic military training. I had a chance to see [our new airmen]
up close and personal…see them get off the bus and go in to meet their
MTI, their military training instructor. Their MTI is the most
significant individual they are going to meet for six weeks, and they
started barking orders and telling them to get ready, to get in their
room, to get the thing set up. To stand back and watch that process is
amazing! They bring them in, show them their cot, tell them they’ve got
two minutes to take everything out of your pockets and lock it up in
their locker. Well, the locker drawer is down on the bottom and there is
a lock on it--the key is on a chain around their neck. They are supposed
to get down there, lock it up and that is where they keep their
valuables. Well, they don’t tell them that they can take the key off
their chain around their neck, so some of them are down there on the
floor!
So, I got a chance to stay there with them until early the next morning
and then they came down for breakfast after they were awakened early in
the morning. Some of the guys had shave marks and cuts on the side of
their face from trying to shave in two minutes. I asked this one young
man, “Where are you from?” He said, “Oregon, Sir.” I said, “What time
did you get up this morning?” He says, “I don’t know, sir. They stole my
wrist watch!” They asked them to lock it up; they didn’t take it away
from them. But I said, “You don’t need to know what time it is, somebody
is going to tell you everything you need to know for the next six
weeks!”
When they graduate from basic military training, as I talked about
earlier, that is the last time somebody tells them everything they need
to know. It is important for us to take those agents of transformation;
not only [from Lackland], but those in the officer corps and those in
the civilian world that come into this business as well as our industry
partners and continue to make them work together and we’ll do even
greater things in the future.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you.
Q: As you just mentioned, following the tragic loss of our Columbia, how
do you see the impact on our Air Force and DoD space programs?
General Lord: I think it certainly sent a message that we have to pay
attention to. We are partnered with NASA. I am part of a partnership
with the Under Secretary, with Admiral Ellis and certainly with
Administrator O’Keefe and the whole NASA team. We are working hard with
them to take a look at the future. We have got Air Force people that are
involved in the accident investigation--Major General John Barry from
General Lyles’ outfit; Major General Ken Hess, Director of Safety; and
Brigadier General Duane Deal. Additionally, our 21st Space Wing folks
are involved in the accident investigation process. We’ll go through
that. We’ll have to find out what happened to the extent we can. I
believe we’ll be able to trace that cause. That will help us understand
more about the technology in that environment. Did we make some
assumptions that we need to re-check and re-calculate? [Assumptions]
that could have feedback into any number of space programs as well as
the assured access to space issue. We’ve got to work hard to maintain
our assured access. Assured access to space is critical. We’ll keep
pushing that hard. We’ll learn things but we’ve got to keep the pressure
on and continue to move forward.
Q: You talked about bandwidth. Looking at today’s current operations,
how do you assess our management of our bandwidth?
General Lord: As opposed to Harry, DISA and the folks in the Army, we’re
in an interesting position in the Air Force because we fly the
satellites but we don’t manage the output of the satellites. I have
commissioned a study to determine, “Can we do this as a component? [Can
we] be the global SATCOM administrator or handler?” I created a little
angst between ourselves and the Army, but I am looking at it to see
which is the best way to do it--to help make sure that we have one
single overall picture. I think it is important for combatant
commanders, for Admiral Ellis, our combatant commander at Strategic
Command, to have a single picture about what is available both
commercially and militarily at any given time satellite-connectivity
wise. What is being used? What is not being used? What is my efficiency
quotient? How much is available? Do I need to redirect? All that is
being worked in individual stove pipes and we want to take a look at it
together…and I know Harry has got the site picture on that and we want
to work with him on that.
Q: As you know, we’ve got more than 8,500 pieces of debris from our
operating systems in space today orbiting around the Earth. Do you see a
time when that may become a constraint to us?
General Lord: I am concerned about making sure that we move out and
understand the environment of space and [have] space situation
awareness. We must not only track objects in space, but also understand
the rest of the environment as well. Personally, in terms of space
debris, somebody asked me today, “Was that what happened to the space
shuttle?” I can’t conjecture that. I know that we do conjunction
analysis. We track and work hard through the 1st Space Control Squadron
in Cheyenne Mountain to talk to the folks in the International Space
Station as well as to NASA when shuttles are flying. We do that as a
routine part of our business. I can’t comment on what happened with
respect to the [shuttle], but we want to be able to track and identify
objects. Additionally, we continue to work hard in the area of space
situation awareness--understanding the environment. One thing we’re
considering is space-based space surveillance, which is where you don’t
have to look through the Earth’s atmosphere. It is easier to see,
catalog and work the issue. I think that is a growing mission for us, to
understand the environment of space and how things occur in that
environment and we’ll continue to work that harder in the future. It is
all part of our counterspace mission.
Q: There has been a lot of discussion and some concern about the impact
of jamming on our GPS-guided weapons. What are your thoughts on that?
General Lord: My simple view is that if somebody thinks that they can
jam the constellation and that is going to cause a serious impact on our
capability to deliver precision munitions, I think they are wrong. GPS
puts the DAM in JDAM. Damn, that was good! There are things you can do
tactically and I can’t go into those. We’ve worked through that, worked
that problem, and I’m not worried about that.
Q: Air Force Space Command has operated vehicles in space for some time.
We’re moving in a direction to a future where we operate vehicles
providing not only services, but also combat capability from space. How
do you see us coming along that path?
General Lord: As we move beyond the question, “What’s the next step
after Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles,” do we get to a reusable
operationally responsive space system? [Do we get to an] aircraft-like
operations tempo in space? I think that is achievable. We are going to
have to work that. We need some breakthroughs technology-wise. We are
pushing in that direction. It’s got to be done in harmony with what the
Chief wants to do with the future of long-range strike and systems. We
are going to do an analysis of alternatives but getting to space is only
half of it. The other part is, then you can take a look at a whole
different set of constellation management [concepts] and other things
you can do in space. It’s an exciting future for all of us and we’re
going to push hard in that respect.
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