For those of us concerned with communications and information in this environment, these are exciting times. Information dominance is now an official part of Air Force doctrine. In today's environment, both ours and the enemies', weapons are more capable. Our forces operate at longer ranges and over a spectrum of diverse missions. Software synthesizes information from multiple sensors, increasing the operators' situational awareness.
Software provides reliable interfaces between the aircraft and the weapon systems.
Finally, software, combined with the global coverage provided by low and medium Earth orbit satellite communications, will provide the command and control necessary to get the operator into and out of the fight with successful results. To be successful, software developers must be able to cope with new developments in technology and exploit them to accomplish the operators' needs. The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board's recently published report, New World Vistas , addressed discontinuous changes for the future and discussed breakthrough technologies that will revolutionize the way we conduct operations. On a recent visit to a small but prosperous nation in the Pacific, I was intrigued to find that in their national force of only 7,000 military, almost 1,000 of them were engaged in some form of information protection. They also knew their regional competitors were highly involved in information warfare, and they were determined to stay ahead in this race.