The Man In The Chair: Cornerstone Of Global Battlespace Dominance

Abstract : In December 1994, Gen Ronald R. Fogleman, Air Force chief of staff initiated Air Force 2025-a study to identify air and space power requirements 30 years in the future. To support the effort, General Fogleman tasked Air University to generate white papers that would seed the Air Staff and major air commands with new ideas and concepts for the future. Air University responded by creating more than 30 teams to focus on distinct areas of mission emphasis. This white paper embodies the research conducted by one of those teams - the team responsible for conceptualizing what "Space Surveillance and Reconnaissance Fusion" means in the year 2025. Our vision of surveillance and reconnaissance fusion in 2025 clearly identifies an intelligence architecture with human-like characteristics. It will simultaneously sense and evaluate the earth in much the same way you remain aware of your day-to-day surroundings. This vision is so central to assimilating the paper's underlying details that our architecture bears as its title the acronym MITCH (derived from the "Man In The Chair"). We hope this technique of personification will anchor readers to the human analogy drawn throughout the paper. The concept and technologies behind MITCH merit further development. Feedback from top-level professionals serving as 2025 advisors and assessors strongly supports this assertion. Maj Gen Garrison Rapmund, USA, Retired, for example, believes the vision of MITCH is an essential tool for our decision makers in Washington. He believes our vision provides a framework for understanding how the stream of new information technologies can be applied.