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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Published Aerospace Power Journal- Winter 1999
Aerospace Power Journal—a new name to reflect what the Air Force is all about. We are a visionary, powerful and integrated Air Force team, and this new title of our professional journal symbolizes that. It represents our vertical vector into the wild blue and our thrust for cutting-edge technologies and robust systems. Even more important than what is on the cover, the new name reflects what is on the inside—people across the continuum of aerospace operations contributing to an important dialogue.
Gen Thomas D. White, former Air Force chief of staff, first publicized the term aerospace back in 1958, promoting the vision of a single indivisible field of operations from the Earth’s surface to the stratosphere and beyond. Events worldwide show the significant reality of aerospace power in national security and global stability, and the new journal name reflects that reality as we enter the new millennium. It is a reality founded on the team effort between air and space systems and the people who operate, maintain, secure and support them. No longer can we afford to limit our planning, our organizing, and our developing of technology with compartmentalized thinking. We can and must maintain a seamless unity of effort in these mediums to provide the unique vertical perspective that makes the Air Force what it is today and will be in the future.
Our aviation forefathers certainly did not limit their visions but established the Air Force on a journey we have extended into space and cyberspace. In the pro-cess, we have made these new frontiers fundamental to nearly everything we do—through integrated air and space communications, reconnaissance, defensive warning and myriad other functions.
Aerospace power provides an overwhelming and decisive edge over the enemy. It spurs us on toward new heights of speed, range, precision and agility. In every respect, the Air Force is defined by aerospace power, and so must we all internalize its fundamental meaning. Airmen often speak their own language, and that language for the next century and beyond is “aerospace power.”
The Aerospace Power Journal is here to develop that language and to advance important discussions about strategy, operational art, national defense, and how the Air Force can continue the outstanding team effort that makes us the world’s finest aerospace force. We encourage you to join the dialogue; we look forward to your contributions.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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