Editorial: Seizing the High Ground Editor-in-chief

History is replete with examples of armies and empires whose military success was a direct result of their technical supremacy. The Roman Empire's expertise in road building allowed them to keep their armies supplied during campaigns. Half of the world's people were subjects of the British Empire at its pinnacle ; due in large part to their ships, which enabled them to project force around the globe. Most recently, America assumed the promontory of military superiority at the beginning of the twentieth century. This was a direct product of America's industrial and technology edge over competitor nations; and was concurrent with the ascendancy of our air power. This first became apparent in World War I, and then again in World War II, when the Army discovered it could greatly extend its reach into enemy territory using the Army Air Corps. The Navy experienced similar success in the Pacific War when it shifted its emphasis from battleships to aircraft carriers, which helped turn the tide against Japan. In the years following the Second World War, the arrival of the Space Age was highly anticipated. The pioneering work by the US Military and Werner Von Braun in the 1950s (along with Sergei Korolev's parallel efforts in the Soviet Union) was performed to be the " first to space. " Even before the first successful launch in 1957, the strategic value of space was understood. Commanding the high ground of space has long been an Air Force priority. Shortly after the launch of Sputnik, Air Force Chief of Staff General Thomas D. White declared that the Air Force " must win the capability to control space. " Since that time, space systems have played an increasingly larger role in the Air Force's overall mission, culminating with the establishment of the Space Command in 1982. The Space Command, and by extension much of the Air Force's space technology got its first " test under fire " during the 1991 Persian Gulf War; when its satellites provided critical communications for the US Central Command, both in-theater and with the Pentagon. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) were able to provide our armed forces with precise position information of key targets. Furthermore, Space Command's GPS and weather satellites guided ground units across the featureless expanses of the Iraqi desert in all weather. In addition, the Air Force's early warning satellites gave a much needed " heads-up " to …