Space contributions to freedom and global security.

Remarks at the "Salute to the Space and Missile Systems Center" Awards Banquet, Air Force Association Schriever Chapter, Los Angeles, Calif., June 25, 2004

As I think back on my association with Space and Missile Systems Center and its predecessor organizations, the first time I was probably exposed to it was actually in the summer of 1960 when, having just finished my freshman year at the University of Colorado, I got a job at Martin Marietta in Denver. The group I was put in to help, working for $2.10 an hour as a summer hire, was a group of engineers who were doing the flight control system design on the precursor to the Titan III space launch vehicle. So our customer was the Western Missile Division and the operation out here in Los Angeles.

As I think about it, 44 years of association is a long time, and what a wonderful honor it is, frankly, for me to be here to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this wonderful organization.

Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, the United States is only a few days away from transferring sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people will be able to set up their own version of what Abraham Lincoln called government of, by, and for the people. It's an exhilarating but also an unnerving time for them, and certainly for us. The Iraqi people are stepping into an unknown landscape, and they face a harsh and insidious enemy that is determined to spoil their chance at democracy. As for us, even as we transfer sovereignty we remain at war with our common enemy--an enemy that hates freedom and equality and democracy; an enemy that is resolute in opposing our efforts to extend "the blessings of liberty" beyond ourselves.

With that in mind I'd like to share my perspective with you about this war that we're in and the people who are fighting it; the war-winning contributions of our space professionals at the Space and Missile Systems Center and elsewhere; and the imperatives that we have in front of us to prepare for the future.

Jose Ramos-Horta, the 1996 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, recently wrote, "It is always easier to say no to war, even at the price of appeasement, but being politically correct means leaving the innocent to suffer the world over."

Now, I think it's kind of unusual that a Nobel Peace Prize winner would support war of any kind, but he emphasized the practical results of this war when he wrote, "Iraq is experiencing real freedom for the first time in its history." They are learning that freedom is precious, that it costs a great deal, and that it is worth the cost.

I recently completed a short trip to Southwest Asia, about an eight-day trip. In that time period I visited our troops in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, in Bahrain. I also had the opportunity to spend considerable time at our Air and Space Operation Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. I met with men and women who brought the Iraqis their freedom, and who are protecting that freedom every day.

It's hard to imagine what it's like there until you see it first-hand You can watch it on IV and you can read about it in the newspapers and I've certainly done that, but until you're there I think you don't have a good understanding of what it's like for our troops that are deployed there.

Now some of you have been there, I know; and SMC, as it turns out, has deployed its share of people for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom over the last several years: personnel support, contracting troops, chaplain staff, many others. I understand that over 60 personnel have deployed this year--already more than each of the last three years.

For example, Captain Garth Arevalo spent nine months deployed to Djibouti and Kenya, during which he worked with the Special Operations Forces, all the U.S. military services, and seven coalition members as well. And Staff Sgt. Wes Navarro, who supported the 10th Mountain Division at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; he remembered families reduced to the barest standard of living, for which 10-year-old boys were the sole providers, but he was impressed by their spirit. He said, "People over there had real big hearts."

Then there's Captain Lateef Hynson, who deployed to Kuwait during the invasion and major combat phase. He said an "overwhelming feeling of pride and patriotism radiated from everyone I talked to and worked with. Sure, we missed our families in the United States, but we knew that the cause we were supporting was noble."

And Senior Master Sgt. David Tufts, who just led us in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight, went to Kyrgyzstan not once but twice, with a number of SMC people. He supported United States and coalition flight operations, and found out that people who didn't even know Los Angeles Air Force Base existed still appreciated what you all do. As he put it, 'We would get some great stories about how GPS [Global Positioning System] worked for them during this battle or that. They all spoke of the [satellite] phones being a lifesaver. All branches of the service and all coalition forces are very familiar with SMC's products and they love all of them."

I urge you to seek out those who have gone to the theater of operations and find out what it is like. I urge you to consider our forces there as you go about our daily duties--especially consider how much what you do matters to what they do. We should all do our duty behind the lines on behalf of those at the front, as we would want them to do if our situations were reversed.

The initial military campaign that brought freedom to Iraq was rapid and precise. You saw some of that in the video tonight, but the fact is that our coalition forces overran the corrupt Hussein regime within 21 days, and occupied the last major Iraqi city only five days later. History will show that this military campaign was the most integrated, synchronized, and precise ever carried out to date, and our nation's space capabilities were decisive in that success.

For example, coalition forces used a mix of space, airborne and surface sensors to detect Iraqi theater ballistic missile launches, protecting lives while allowing our troops to sustain operations. Our space professionals developed new tactics and procedures to achieve and sustain the highest Global Positioning System accuracy possible. As a result, coalition forces were able to strike regime targets with pinpoint accuracy while minimizing collateral damage, protecting civilian lives and reducing re-strike requirements.

Throughout the campaigns, coalition aircrews flew the right sorties at the right times for tactical and operational success. Every one of those successful sorties was the result of coordinated effort among many air and space professionals. Consider a few of the people who are involved in a single combat mission before the aircraft ever even takes off: analysts use remote sensing satellite data and other intelligence to select the targets and the weapons needed against them; operations planners lay out the mission, prepare the air tasking order, and transmit it to combat units--usually over military communication satellites; space operators ensure GPS and other assets are constantly ready to support; logisticians get the weapons ready and fuel and spare parts where they're needed; crew chiefs make sure that the aircraft is flightworthy; and forecasters use data from weather satellites to brief the aircrew prior to the mission. Those are just a few of the people and skills involved.

If you analyzed each of our mission capabilities to pick out the people involved, you would see that our success rests squarely on the shoulders of our people--aircrew, maintainers, engineers, intelligence analysts, communicators, everyone--who make the mission their number one priority every day. Which naturally brings me to the brilliant contributions of the dedicated men and women of the Space and Missile Systems Center.

In your day-to-day activities of commuting on the 405, or evaluating proposals for multi-million dollar satellites, or engineering critical defense systems, you may not see your connection to battles in far-away places. It may be hard to see where you fit into the operational picture, but you certainly do.

The task of dissecting the lessons learned from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom will go on for a long time to come but I think it's fair to say that the effects we delivered in those campaigns were better enabled by our space assets than in any previous conflict.

Think first about satellite navigation. You build the GPS constellation, so you know that it's the world's standard for precision navigation and timing. It performs so well that some people take for granted the real-time, all-weather navigation capability it provides to military and civilian users worldwide.

Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper tells the story of a combat controller in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Markum, who reconnoitered the Afghan countryside on horseback with laser goggles, a GPS receiver, a laptop computer, and a communications uplink. During an intense firefight, he used the tools delivered by our space professionals to target hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, and send precise targeting information to a B-52 overhead--after which that bomber crew did the rest: precision engagement from 39,000 feet despite close proximity to friendly forces. Sergeant Markum's accurate coordinates brought the bombs within 10 feet of the enemy positions. You should be very proud of that capability that you delivered, because it has saved our forces' lives and won victories on the battlefield. I congratulate you for it.

Let me also take the opportunity to say congratulations to the GPS System Program Office (SPO) for Wednesday's successful launch of a GPS satellite on board a Delta II launch system. That's what we call mission success.

Then, there's the absolutely critical link provided by military satellite communications. SMC has fielded a wide array of communication systems, all of which have brought important capabilities to the combatant commanders and our fielded forces.

Again, as you saw in the video earlier, the Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS) has provided the reliable backbone for large amounts of command and control data. Some of you are working on the Wideband Gapfiller satellites that will dramatically augment our DSCS capability.

The Milstar system has provided our core secure communications capability, and was crucial to the U.S. Navy for transmitting targeting information for their Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles. The follow-on to Milstar will be the Advanced Extremely High Frequency system, which successfully completed its system level critical design review this past May. Congratulations to the MILSATCOM Joint Program Office on passing that milestone.

In the arena of missile warning, our fleet of Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites has done a tremendous job keeping our military and civilian leadership informed of missiles launches for over 30 years. That's an incredible record, especially considering that many of the individual sensor platforms have provided uninterrupted service well past their design lifetimes.

Once again, we're going to upgrade that capability. I applaud the SBIRS program office on their efforts to develop and field the Space-Based Infrared System as the follow-on to DSP. We need SBIRS to provide increased missile warning capabilities, to support theater missile defense, and to help gather technical intelligence for battlespace characterization. The SBIRS program office has had some difficulties in the last year. It's been well publicized. But this is a talented team of professionals that will get this job done and make us all proud of them.

Space systems also enhance our meteorology capabilities. Knowing what the weather is in any given location allows us to choose the right weapon for the right target, and is an invaluable asset for navigation. Our Defense Meteorological Satellite Program fleet continues to provide the critical data our forecasters and operations planners need. Let me give you an example.

When the 173rd Airborne Brigade was doing a night parachute drop into mountainous terrain in Northern Iraq, the weather was very dicey. The troops were in the air two hours prior to time over target when advance personnel reported 800-foot ceilings and snowfall. They recommended calling off the jump before the aircraft entered Iraqi airspace. The forecaster, Captain Roberts, looked at his high resolution satellite photos and saw that the clouds were beginning to break up. He got on the satellite link and convinced the commander to continue the operation. Thirty minutes before they reached the target the skies broke and the winds came down to five knots. The airdrop was successful--in large part due to the systems fielded by SMC.

Now, I can't go into too much detail about our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, but I can say that our ongoing activities in support of the Global War on Terrorism demonstrate that our space capabilities have become increasingly integrated into our national intelligence and warfighter operations. We collect and disseminate actionable intelligence every day. As those of you who design and build them know full well, space systems are unique assets--they provide global persistence in the form of consistent predictable coverage; they give us an advantageous view of the earth; and they provide access to the enemy without being hindered by geographic or political boundaries.

Collectively, our space systems--whether integrated with airborne and surface sensors or acting alone over areas of high risk or limited access--provide critical surveillance and reconnaissance information to national decision makers and combatant commanders. These space capabilities enabled the tremendous success our joint warfighters achieved during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and will continue to be a cornerstone for success in future conflicts.

But as we consider how best to prepare for possible future conflicts, we can't afford to rest on our laurels. Regardless of the victories that we've already earned, we have to keep preparing for the next fight. Whether that means a major conflict against a well armed and trained conventional army or the continued campaign against the terrorist foe that continues to strike at the soft targets and citizens of our nation.

Space power will remain a vital instrument of our nation's power in these future conflicts. To help us keep moving in the right direction, earlier this year I set five National Security Space priorities for 2004. They are: One, Achieve Mission Success in Operations and Acquisition. Second, Develop and Maintain a Team of Space Professionals. Third, Integrate Space Capabilities for National Intelligence and Warfighting Next, Produce Innovative Solutions for the Most Challenging National Security Problems. And lastly, Ensure Freedom of Action in Space.

While all are critical, one stands out from the rest in our efforts to sustain space superiority over the long run: the need to Develop and Maintain a Team of Space Professionals.

It may seem odd for me to talk to space professionals about the need to develop space professionals. But don't forget that the most crucial elements of space power are the people who imagine, design, acquire and operate our space systems.

To be most effective as space professionals, you must understand the tactical environment you support as well as the space-unique tactics, techniques and procedures needed. Technically, you must be schooled in space systems acquisition, the requirements of vehicles that operate in space, and space-related research and development. To ensure effective cross-flow, we need to send more acquisitions experts to the field where they can actually use the systems they produce, and bring more space and missile operators to SMC--to bring their operational experience to the development process, and to learn how difficult it is to acquire highly sophisticated systems.

Our Space Cadre requires people who are willing--and able--to move from the SPO to the operations squadron, to the laboratory, back to the SPO, to the headquarters, and so forth. Our space professionals must be sensitive to the needs of the many and varied end users of space capabilities and be able to formulate and articulate new space doctrine so we can fully control and exploit the medium of space in support of our nation's security objectives. We must be able to develop new technologies, systems, training methods, concepts of operations and organizations that will sustain the United States as the world leader in space. This requires people of exceptional dedication and ability, many of whom are in this room tonight.

Our fourth National Security Space priority--Produce Innovative Solutions for the Most Challenging National Security Problems--is why SMC exists.

What we strive to deliver to the National Command Authority and all of our combatant commanders is transparency--the ability to see everything and know everything about our enemies. At the same time, we seek to deny our adversaries the ability to do the same to us, and to keep them from knowing that such capabilities are being used against them. We want to be always one step or more ahead of our adversaries--to be first to see, first to understand, and first to act.

In order to make certain we stay ahead we have several new systems that are on the drawing boards today. The Transformational Communications Architecture will create a national security "internet in the sky" so the user, whether a Marine in a HUMVEE or an aircrew planning a mission, can open up a laptop, request imagery, and download it within minutes from anywhere in the world. TSAT will give our fighting forces near real time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information at their fingertips--and feeding that pipeline of information will be systems like the Space Based Radar, which will provide persistent global situational awareness and target tracking capability--day or night, all weather, worldwide.

In order to take advantage of those new systems we have to get them into space, and SMC's pursuit of assured access to space makes that possible. You fielded the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, which offers improved reliability and reduced cost over previous launch systems. EELV has logged a remarkable 100 percent success rate with the Atlas-V and the Delta IV models. And I should offer special thanks now to the Titan IV people who have two vitally important NRO [National Reconnaissance Office] missions to deliver next year. I can't tell you how important those two missions the last Titan IVs will fly are to our national security endeavors. Thank you for making mission success your number one priority.

I'd like to conclude my remarks tonight by offering my very very sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you who work for SMC and all of you who support people that do. You're involved in a noble mission and with your help and continued dedication I do believe we will win this horrible Global War on Terrorism. I thank you all very much.

Under Secretary of the Air Force Peter Teets