It is not going to stay in the Air Force. Much the same message was delivered by Rebecca Grant, who has been an advisor to top Air Force leaders and is now president of IRIS, a defense consulting firm. Inc. He recently led an Air Force Scientific Advisory Board study that produced a new space roadmap for the service. Borky and the other members of the panel took special note of the rapid growth of commercial space assets and warned that the Air Force must make greater use of those capabilities and not try to duplicate them with its limited budget. Borky said he approaches the question of applying force from space exactly as he would consider putting a new munition on an aircraft.
Space has some tremendous advantages, speed and assured access being high on that list.
The panel members agreed that the Air Force must prepare now to defend all of the critical US space assets, both commercial and military, against the inevitable attempt to attack this vital national resource. The overriding message was that space is of rapidly escalating importance to US military and commercial strength and the Air Force must adapt or risk becoming irrelevant. Space has been critical to the military in the past. The 21st century belongs to aerospace power. Smith's goal, in part, would be to give the space mission stronger institutional clout.