Making Room for Space in Aerospace

Is the Air Force on an evolutionary path to becoming a space and air force? Is it on an evolutionary path to becoming an aerospace force? What is an evolutionary path? Lacking a consistent and coherent vision of what it wants to be, can the Air Force evolve at all? This paper attempts to address the answers to these questions by analyzing the roots of the term aerospace and the controversy associated with its renewed use. It makes the assumption up front that the Air Force has abandoned the idea of establishing a "space and air" force. Instead, the Air Force is pursuing a new vision - the vision of an aerospace force. The paper uses naval aviation, Marine amphibious warfare, and the Independent Air Force as examples of successful military evolution to establish indicators of evolutionary progress.