Air Force’s Future Clouded With Space Force On Track To Separate (From Forbes)

It now seems certain that the nation will be getting a sixth branch of the military, the Space Force. Initially housed within the Department of the Air Force, it will eventually be completely autonomous–depriving the Air Force of its former leadership role in military space. The airborne force that remains has some major challenges it needs to address. How will it fashion an integrated battle management architecture for the future if half the assets that matter have moved to a new service? How can it overcome a yawning gap in the available force structure to meet future security requirements? How can it mitigate the danger of having single points of failure in its modernization plan?  And how can it sort out wheat from chaff in selecting which modernization concepts to embrace?  I have written a commentary for Forbes here.