The roadmap also recommended that the Air Force pursue improvements in the position, navigation, and timing information provided by the Global Positioning System. Since its introduction in the Gulf War, the popularity of GPS has spread like wildfire. It is now used by fishermen and rescue squads in addition to the original military users. The global projection of energy through space to targets was one of the four main thrusts of the Doable Space study, but Hastings stopped short of forecasting a space-based laser. Both his study and the roadmap spoke instead of projecting laser energy from or through space, meaning that some or all of the weapons might be located on the ground.
More work is needed in system engineering and integration, beam and fire control, and other areas.
Borky emphasized that the SAB's reservations are about the current technology, not about the desirability of the system. Possibilities of such a system go beyond shooting down ballistic missiles with a laser beam from space. In December, F. Whitten Peters, acting Secretary of the Air Force, told the Defense Writers Group that the Air Force will not rush the space-based laser program. Our view is that it is a very difficult technical challenge. It is one that is coming, that several different groups are working on.