Imperative of Air and Space Power

摘要

Acentury ago, near Kitty Hawk, N.C., Orville and Wilbur Wright ushered in the age of sustained powered flight. Later, visionaries such as Mitchell, Andrews, Arnold, Eaker, Spaatz, Doolittle, and others advanced the military application of the airplane. They are the forefathers of today's United States Air Force―a 21st century Air and Space Expeditionary Force. Throughout USAF's history, its people, technology, and culture of transformation have served it and the nation remarkably well. In World War Ⅱ, it took nearly 3,000 air sorties to eliminate a single target. Today, an aircraft can destroy multiple targets in a single sortie. The Air Force continues to transform, as was seen most recently in Operation Iraqi Freedom.