For those of you of sufficient age, you should have heard that title in your head with the stentorian voice of this fine announcer. But in all seriousness, the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command have their work cut out for them, developing doctrine and strategy and educating the public on the contributions of space to daily life in the modern world. A.P. Penaflor joins host Jacqueline Whitt in the studio to discuss space, a topic that once held nations spellbound but has become so routine that the average citizen gives it little thought. But the members of the DoD that work in the space realm every day are busy developing the tactics, techniques and procedures that allow the military and commercial industries to operate and navigate in the unforgiving environment today and well into the future.
There’s no cleanup action in space. It’d be great if there was some way to deploy a space vacuum out there to take out debris or any types of cleanup services, but it’s unlike any other domain. We can’t just physically go up there with ease and be able to repair that environment so that it can become usable.
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Americo D. Penaflor is a Lt Col and and Active Guard Reserve member in the Air Force Reserve. Previously, he was the Director of Operations, 710th Operations Group, Detachment 1, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, responsible for establishing the first Reserve Associate Unit with a Classical Association to the 4th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron (4 EWS). He was a member of the Carlisle Scholars Program and he is a graduate of the AY23 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College.
Dr. Jacqueline Whitt is the Director of the Organizational Learning Unit in the Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources for the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She was the second Editor-In-Chief of WAR ROOM and remains an associate editor on the team. Follow her on Twitter @notabattlechick.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: Hubble’s view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born.
Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Considering just how important space is to most developed nation’s (exs: Russia’s, China’s, India’s, the U.S./the West’s, etc.) everyday life, it would seem that any developed nation who did stupid stuff in space — and thus threatened the entire developed world’s everyday life and possibilities — these folks would be shooting themselves in their own foot; this, just as much — or possibly even more so — than they were shooting some adversary in the foot.
This would clearly make this such developed nation — who did such stupid stuff in space — not just the U.S./the West’s adversary — but indeed the rest of the developed world’s adversary — and even the adversary of their own people.
Accordingly, it would seem that the rest of the developed world — coming together and acting together — should, together, (a) say this, (b) lay down some kind of ground rules about what was allowed and what was not allowed in space and (c) publish what kind of various punishments could and would be considered if these such ground rules were violated.
“Coercive diplomacy,” “punishment,” etc., thus would emanate — not from, for example, the U.S./the West alone — but, indeed, from this entire “rest of the developed world” coalition. (ALL OF WHOM’S everyday life and possibilities were being jeopardized by the “rogue” developed nation doing stupid stuff in space.)
IN 1919 THE ROYAL AIR FORCE WAS ESTABLISHED THE ROYAL NAVY BELIEVING THAT IT DREADNOUGHTS BATTLESHIPS WERE THE ULTIMATE IN NAVAL WARFARE GAVE UP ALL AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT AND DOCTRINE TO THE RAF. THE RAF BELIEVED IN STRATEGIC AIR WARFARE NEGLECTED THE DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL AIRCRAFT. WHEN THE SECOND WORLD WAR FAR EAST BEGAN THE ROYAL NAVY THOUGH HAVING REGAINED THE FLEET AIR ARM IN 1937 HAD NO FLAG OFFICERS CAPABLE OF CARRIER WARFARE AND WENT DOWN TO DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY BECOMING THE 2nd. RATE POWER WE KNOW TODAY I THINK THE US IS DOING THE SAME THRU THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE US SPACE FORCE