AIA | Space Exploration & The National Interest

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Space and National Security in the Age of Information Warfare

Space exploration and utilization provide the United States with a vital edge in tracking, deterring, and defeating a lethal worldwide enemy.

Surveying the evolution of warfighting technologies over the last 40 years, the bipartisan Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management concluded that "space-based capabilities enable military forces to identify and strike targets with precise and devastating effect."

Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom confirmed that observation. Each campaign relied heavily on GPS-guided aircraft and infantry as well as a network of more than two dozen military satellites for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities.

MILSATCOM, the Defense Department's upgraded satellite communications network, has made information the most powerful weapon in the American arsenal. Thanks to this asset and its affiliated launch vehicles, U.S. precision munitions now have a level of accuracy within 10 feet of a target, in contrast to the 400-foot distance during the Vietnam era.

As the ground war against terrorism continues, the United States will prevail in part from space.