Volume 32 Issue 2, Summer 2018

Lt Gen David "D. T." Thompson, USAF
Col Gregory J. Gagnon, USAF
Maj Christopher W. McLeod, USAF

For the past 70 years, the US Air Force has consistently delivered a war-fighting advantage in support of vital national interests. Our service grew from the vision of early Airmen who recognized the potential of a new war-fighting domain and exploited emerging technology to make it a reality. We developed the capabilities to gain and maintain air superiority, securing the high ground to protect

Dr. Brent Ziarnick
 
Three major events in 2017 promise to begin a renaissance of space professionalism in the USAF. The publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy, Rep. Mike Rogers and Rep. Jim Cooper’s efforts to create a Space Corps in the National Defense Authorization Act, and Gen John Hyten’s vision to create a Space Mission Force in Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) are together coalescing forces to form a critical mass of energy that will give birth to the first true generation of military space professionals.

Maj Steven T. Nolan, Jr., USAF
Dr. Robert E. Overstreet
 
There is a general lack of understanding regarding how the USAF manages officers who are thought to have the potential to be senior leaders. The purpose of this study was to discover approaches that the USAF could use to improve the manner in which it identifies, assesses, and develops high-potential (HiPo) officers.

Dr. Dennis Evans
Dr. Jonathan Schwalbe

Since 1960, the US strategic nuclear arsenal has consisted of a triad of land­based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) on ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), and long-range bombers. This triad played a key role in US security for decades, but all current nuclear delivery systems, except the B-2 bomber, will reach the ends of their lives by 2045. 

Lt Col Jeremy K. Hodges, USAF
 
The purpose of this article is to investigate the use of professional, volunteer, auxiliary organizations toward the accomplishment of national-level objectives to mitigate the higher cost of paid resources. This case study evaluates the Civil Air Patrol as the USAF Auxiliary for themes related to the successful utilization of auxiliary forces. A hierarchy of security strategy and defense objectives are presented along with a military department (Air Force) priority set. 

C1C Ryan J. Lee, USAFA 

How is it possible to study something that has yet to occur? How does one study the future in a meaningful way? The private and public sectors conduct forecasting research—or the study of the future—almost daily. The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast how the public and private sectors conduct this research. Forecast analysis, futurecasting, strategic development, and other terms all point toward preparing for the future. . 

Capt Isaac Nacita, USAF
Lt Col Mark Reith, USAF, PhD
 
In September 1870, after just six weeks of what many thought would be a prolonged war, Prussian bystanders jeered Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as he was carried to captivity in what is now Kassel, Germany. It was a fitting portrait of French national disgrace. Their military structures before the war and lack of strategic planning were partly to blame. 

Roberta Ewart
 
As a nation, the US will have been discussing space power, space warfare, space war fighting, or some combination of those concepts for almost 60 years, since approximately 1958. None of the recent material (2015 to the present) regarding the Space Enterprise Vision (SEV) promulgated by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) or the at-large space control community is new.