The future of war is up in the air, commander says

MONTEREY, Calif.?Space has become one of the most powerful weapons in warfare, Air Force Gen. Lance W. Lord said.

The success of future wars will be dependent on space systems, said the commander of the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. The importance of space systems has evolved during the past 50 years following the initial efforts to monitor the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Lord said at the Military Communications Conference 2004 yesterday.

"You can't do anything these days without a space connection," he said "If you're not in space, you're not in the race."

Space systems dominance has given the U.S. military what Lord called an asymmetrical advantage. That advantage has been transparent to the soldiers on the front lines in Iraq, he said.

For the Iraq operations, the military has exploited space-based warning, weather and military satellite communications, Lord said.