Editorial

It was my distinct pleasure to lead the JAPCC team in organizing and hosting this year’s Joint Air and Space Power Conference: ‘Shaping NATO for Multi-Domain Operations of the Future’. This annual gathering drew more than 320 Air and Space experts from 27 nations and multiple NATO and European organizations, including more than 60 General/Flag Officers and senior civilian leaders. We are already working hard on the 2020 conference, which will address ‘Leveraging Emerging Technologies in Support of NATO Air & Space Power’, and we hope to see you again in Essen as we dig into one of the main challenges to keeping Alliance Air and Space Power relevant and able to sustain Alliance Defense, Deterrence and Security for decades to come.

In the meantime it is my pleasure to present this 29th edition of the JAPCC Journal, Transforming Joint Air and Space Power. This offering opens with an assessment by the JAPCC Director and Commander, Allied Air Command, General Jeff Harrigian, of what he considers the three main elements of Multi-Domain Operations and how the relevant evolution of Command and Control will shape our future. It is immediately followed by an interview with the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, General Alberto Rosso, who offers us great insights into the challenges facing the Italian Air Force, its priorities, and where Italy is leading the way in next generation evolution and integration.

‘Air Command and Control in NATO’ provides historical insights into Operation Unified Protector and lessons for NATO’s current level of ambition. It is followed by three articles addressing the newly recognized space domain: ‘New Space’, ‘Congested Outer Space’ and the importance of ‘Space Support in NATO Operations’. Next we present two articles expanding on the topic of our October conference, highlighting ‘Multi-Domain Operations’ and a ‘Multi-Domain Approach to Targeting’.

‘Joint Personnel Recovery 2040’ provides an update on an ongoing Multinational Capability Development Campaign project, while ‘Manned – Unmanned Teaming’, ‘Comprehensive Approach to Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems’, and ‘The electromagnetic Environment and the Global Commons’ examine issues of concern likely to be addressed in the 2020 conference.

‘Small Nations in Joint Air Power’ explores the ways nations with small air fleets provide value to NATO and ‘Strategic Value of Aircraft Carriers’ is a cost-benefit analysis of aircraft carriers for future conflicts, while in the final article the deputy commander of the European Air Transport Command, Brigadier General Francesco Agresti, describes the success story of EATC in expanding Alliance air mobility capacity.

I want to thank you for reading, and our authors for contributing. I hope you find the articles in this Journal as informative and thought-provoking as I did. The JAPCC team greatly appreciates your feedback and thoughts. Please visit our website at www.japcc.org, one of our social media pages, or send us an e-mail to to give us your opinion.

Ciao and good reading!

Giuseppe Sgamba
Brigadier General, ITA AF
Assistant Director, JAPCC