Navy and Air Force space—shared achievements and shared challenges ahead

James G. Roche, secretary of the Air Force

Remarks to the Navy Element of the National Reconnaissance Office, Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., April 29, 2003

Thank you, Rand (Rear Admiral Fisher, Director, Communications Directorate, NRO) for that kind introduction and for inviting me here to speak. I am honored to represent the Air Force at this gathering of august naval space professionals. But I suspect I'm not here because of my surface warfare experience, nor my very limited my space warfare experience. I would, however, like to note the similarities between Maritime Law and Space Law, and the applicability of Mahan's theories of lines of communication in space, so maybe my surface warfare experience could come in handy.

Aside from my personal delight as an old salt among fellow sailors, as an Air Force representative, I'm pleased to be here tonight with the Navy element of the NRO because of the long and constructive relationship we've enjoyed. Our history of cooperation in space dates before 1962 when Program C was stood up as part of the National Reconnaissance Office, along with Program A, the Air Force element. This was the lay of the land--so to speak--when I served on the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence. Since the reorganization of the NRO in 1992, that cooperation has only increased between both services as the stovepipes of "Navy country" and "Air Force country" were broken down and members of both services were integrated, along with members of the other services and the intelligence community, to do the critical work of providing space capabilities that feed vital information to our nation's decision makers and warfighters.

From the earliest days of the space program, both the Air Force and the Navy have worked hand in hand. The first astronauts were culled from the best pilots of both departments (including the Marines). Both departments were pioneers in space, developing systems that were the predecessors of the systems used today. The Navy led the way in a number of areas, implementing programs that have fundamentally changed the way not only the military but also the whole world does business. The Global Positioning System--the global navigational standard--began as a naval initiative, and the Navy's FLTSATCOM set the standard for Ultra High Frequency military satellite communications. Even before the official formation of Program C, the Naval Research Lab pioneered space reconnaissance with the development of the Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB) satellite launched in 1961 to collect electronic intelligence. GRAB was the first space reconnaissance satellite and its progeny has provided intelligence that we could not have collected through any other means. This brief unclassified survey only scratches the surface of our shared history, yet it demonstrates the bonds we've forged in space. It attests to the promise of our collective future, and reaffirms what each of you knows to be true: the tremendous value of space to modern warfighting.

Not all recognized this at the time. I fought seemingly endless hours on behalf of my boss, Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson while on the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence (SSCI) and the Senate Armed Services Committee to bring into being a number of systems still classified--one of which remains especially important to naval forces. But times have changed. Reality is upon us.

Each of us should be proud of what our armed forces have achieved over the past month. While it is too early to fully digest and dissect the recent operation, the Air Force has been gathering lessons learned since the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom as we proceeded through the war effort. We've learned that there is truth to the phrase "flexibility is the key to air and space power." We've demonstrated that the use of precision weapons can deliver effects with pinpoint accuracy, thus reducing the numbers of munitions needed to accomplish our objectives. We've also learned that, thanks to the reliance of a great many of those weapons on space capabilities, space is more critical to the way we fight than it has ever been before.

The American way of war has undergone a tremendous transformation: in the way we command and control warfare, the speed and range with which we can deliver decisive effects, and, most important to those here tonight, the global information dominance that enables our nation to see first, understand first, and act first. Years of development of integrated systems and the professional training of airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines in their application were on display for the world to see--and, by all accounts, our results are unprecedented. There has not been an example in the history of the world of greater speed, maneuver, and precision on the battlefield--all while simultaneously limiting collateral damage, delivering humanitarian aid, and saving the lives of combatants and civilians alike. This is a new age of warfare--you can be proud of the vital role space professionals played in making it possible.