Space Operations in the Joint Warfighting Arena

This paper is written for the non-"space-minded" person who is willing to hear ideas of how to integrate space power throughout the U.S. military's joint warfighting ways. The U.S. military is becoming increasingly more dependent upon space assets to help win wars. In fact, some have said, "Operation DESERT STORM was the first space war."1 As the world's dependence on space assets grows, so grows the costs of building space assets and launching them into orbit. As such, the business of building and launching space assets fits the classic "low supply/high demand" relationship. But as the costs to gain space power increases, the U.S. Department of Defense's budget continues to decrease. Therefore, the U.S. military must rely on commercial and civil--as well as its own--space assets, to maximize the effects space power brings to the theater Commander in Chief. Additionally, it's not difficult to imagine that the U.S. military may also rely on the space assets of allied countries in future coalition wars.