thedrifter
08-10-08, 05:23 AM
Missile defense likely to rise in importance
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Huntsville Times
Rapid growth of new technologies brings more challenges to the table
It is difficult to predict anything 50 years into the future, but missile defense is likely to be more important if missile proliferation continues at today's rate.
A look into that future is at the heart of this year's 11th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference & Exhibition. The conference theme is "Space & Missile Defense... the Next 50 Years."
"The next 50 years will certainly bring changes, and the pace of technology development will drive many of those changes," says Rodney Robertson, director of the SMDC/ARSTRAT Technical Center in Huntsville and chair of the government committee. "Today, the U.S. Department of Defense budget, as a percentage of GDP, is roughly half what it was 50 years ago. A challenge for the future will be balancing defense needs against growing entitlement programs as a percentage of the national budget."
With today's proliferation of spacecraft and enabling technologies, it is hard to imagine a world without space-based capabilities supporting soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines along the civil uses of space, Robertson says. Missile defense is likely to be even more important, too.
"We need to look back in history to see how far we have come," he says. "We have been in the space and missile defense business for more than 50 years, and things are much different today than they were in the late 1950s."
Robertson says the threat has changed dramatically, from a monolithic enemy with unsophisticated but very dangerous nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles to today, where more than 20 countries have ballistic missiles, many with advanced guidance schemes, multiple warheads, and some with maneuvering capabilities and penetration aids.
U.S. missile defense capabilities have grown in proportion to the threat and these defenses are critical today in protecting both the U.S. homeland and warfighters deployed overseas.
The rapid growth in technologies has fueled threat growth, as well as U.S. responses to the threat, he says. Satellites were in their infancy in the late '50s, yet today the military, domestic agencies and commercial interests could not operate without the use of products and services from space.
In trying to forecast the next 50 years, Jim Keller, communications manager of Raytheon Co. in Huntsville, says he anticipates technology changes and advances will accelerate, and the amount of change with the next half century will be stunning in its depth and breadth.
"Indeed, the widespread proliferation of high technology throughout the entire world is already presenting us with new and unusual challenges," Keller says. "Many countries already possess the ability to launch sophisticated ballistic missiles. Weapons of mass destruction - whether nuclear, biological, or chemical - are within the grasp of many more. Advanced science and engineering skills are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the world."
As a result, he says the future could bring a complex world with both grave dangers and great opportunities.
"We see the need very clearly to keep pushing the envelope so that America can retain its leadership and sustain our critical role in the world," Keller says. "Maintaining our pre-eminence in space and missile defense is critical to stability and progress. And to maintain our pre-eminence requires multiple government agencies, military services, and elected officials working together in concert. We believe this conference helps us move down that path."
Ellie
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Huntsville Times
Rapid growth of new technologies brings more challenges to the table
It is difficult to predict anything 50 years into the future, but missile defense is likely to be more important if missile proliferation continues at today's rate.
A look into that future is at the heart of this year's 11th Annual Space and Missile Defense Conference & Exhibition. The conference theme is "Space & Missile Defense... the Next 50 Years."
"The next 50 years will certainly bring changes, and the pace of technology development will drive many of those changes," says Rodney Robertson, director of the SMDC/ARSTRAT Technical Center in Huntsville and chair of the government committee. "Today, the U.S. Department of Defense budget, as a percentage of GDP, is roughly half what it was 50 years ago. A challenge for the future will be balancing defense needs against growing entitlement programs as a percentage of the national budget."
With today's proliferation of spacecraft and enabling technologies, it is hard to imagine a world without space-based capabilities supporting soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines along the civil uses of space, Robertson says. Missile defense is likely to be even more important, too.
"We need to look back in history to see how far we have come," he says. "We have been in the space and missile defense business for more than 50 years, and things are much different today than they were in the late 1950s."
Robertson says the threat has changed dramatically, from a monolithic enemy with unsophisticated but very dangerous nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles to today, where more than 20 countries have ballistic missiles, many with advanced guidance schemes, multiple warheads, and some with maneuvering capabilities and penetration aids.
U.S. missile defense capabilities have grown in proportion to the threat and these defenses are critical today in protecting both the U.S. homeland and warfighters deployed overseas.
The rapid growth in technologies has fueled threat growth, as well as U.S. responses to the threat, he says. Satellites were in their infancy in the late '50s, yet today the military, domestic agencies and commercial interests could not operate without the use of products and services from space.
In trying to forecast the next 50 years, Jim Keller, communications manager of Raytheon Co. in Huntsville, says he anticipates technology changes and advances will accelerate, and the amount of change with the next half century will be stunning in its depth and breadth.
"Indeed, the widespread proliferation of high technology throughout the entire world is already presenting us with new and unusual challenges," Keller says. "Many countries already possess the ability to launch sophisticated ballistic missiles. Weapons of mass destruction - whether nuclear, biological, or chemical - are within the grasp of many more. Advanced science and engineering skills are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the world."
As a result, he says the future could bring a complex world with both grave dangers and great opportunities.
"We see the need very clearly to keep pushing the envelope so that America can retain its leadership and sustain our critical role in the world," Keller says. "Maintaining our pre-eminence in space and missile defense is critical to stability and progress. And to maintain our pre-eminence requires multiple government agencies, military services, and elected officials working together in concert. We believe this conference helps us move down that path."
Ellie