1.5
Space weather and military operations: what Air Force Weather accomplished, why it matters, and where we are going
Thomas Stickford, U.S. Air Force, Washington, DC
During this past year Air Force Weather (AFW) has made significant strides in our efforts to “Mainstream Space”--to integrate terrestrial and space weather into our support to the warfighter, and to increase awareness of space weather at all levels of military leadership, planning and execution. Success stories include a change in policy whereby all military aircrews now receive a mandatory briefing on space weather impacts prior to flight; space weather is also briefed to senior leadership and planners at the Pentagon and at Major Commands on a daily basis. In the interagency arena, a cooperative effort involving NASA, the Department of Commerce and the Air Force resulted in the Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) aboard GOES-12 becoming operational. Space matters to military and civilian operators because almost every activity of modern society depends to some degree on space. During Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, solar flares affected communications and command and control of our forces engaged in combat. Despite the successes touted above, much work remains to be done. An example of this is the strong need for development of new space weather models that will allow U.S. and coalition forces to anticipate and exploit the space environment. The Air Force will continue its successful partnerships with other agencies to advance our national space weather capability. We will continue to educate and train senior leadership, planners, and operators both inside and outside of the DoD weather community on the impacts of space weather. .
Session 1, Space Weather Agencies—Research to Operations (Room 617)
Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 8:30 AM-12:00 PM, Room 617
Previous paper Next paper