Precision operations will depend more on non-lethal options. Forward presence will continue to be important to shaping and preparing a region, but sovereignty issues may impede it. Coalitions will continue to be important to future US military operations, but the United States will keep the ability to act unilaterally if required. Systems related to national security have dominated space, but this dominance is eroding rapidly. Space capabilities are proliferating around the world.
Space commerce is increasingly integral to the global economy.
Military and commercial uses of space will become vital national interests for the United States. Achieving space superiority during con-flicts will be critical to the US success on the battlefield. Military, civil, and commercial space sectors are converging. The shift will continue from the military to the commercial sector as the dominant receiver and provider of space services. In 1996, for the first time, commercial launches exceeded military launches in the United States.