Editorial
After three exciting years in Kalkar, my tour as the Assistant Director of the JAPCC and the editor of this Journal ends in September 2021. The time consuming task of being the editor of this Journal was well rewarded by the educational, innovating and thought-provoking articles we published in the past few years. I want to thank our authors for sharing their knowledge and experience, and our loyal readers, for their continuous interest and their constructive feedback.
I am excited to present to you Issue 32 of the JAPCC Journal of Air and Space Power, which starts with an article by our Executive Director, Lieutenant General Klaus Habersetzer. In his final Journal contribution as the Executive Director, he highlights a number of important dynamic challenges in response to which NATO needs to adapt both its operational capabilities and decision-making processes.
The next two articles provide us with senior Leadership Perspectives on ‘The “Land Approach” to the Space Domain’ by Major General Gianluca Carai and Brigadier General Sławomir Żakowski’s insights regarding the ‘Polish Air Force – Transition from Warsaw Pact to NATO’.
The Transformation & Capabilities section follows and includes two Space articles. ‘Responsive Space for NATO Operations Part 2’ continues on from its first iteration in Journal 31 and it will be concluded with a final article in Journal 33. ‘Space Tribes’ explains the composition of the crowded space community and their differing interests. Articles then shift focus towards the Air Domain. ‘Hypersonic Weapons’ and ‘Air Power: The 6th Generation of Aircraft’ discusses defining Air Power challenges of our time, while ‘Leveraging the Alliance’s Effort in Fighter Aircraft Design’ provides insights into the facilitation of multinational research and technology development. ‘Transitioning NATO to an All-Domain Mindset’ describes the NATO JADO way ahead and how to overcome the obstacles between services and across the nations. The article ‘Big Data in ISR’ takes a look at the exponentially increasing data and information available and how processing it will be the key to achieving effective results. Rounding out this section ‘The Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet Programme’ provides an overview of their programme and critically examines its relevance for NATO-EU military air mobility.
The Journal moves on to a View Point on ‘Bots Taking Over’, elaborating on the role of AI in a new era of decision-making and last but not least, our colleagues from the NATO MILMED CoE provide an insightful look into the current procedures for ‘Aeromedical Evacuation in NATO’ and give an outlook on the challenges they have ahead.
Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of our Journal. I hope you find this offering as informative and stimulating as I did. We at the JAPCC greatly appreciate any feedback and thoughts you may wish to share. I encourage you to reach out to us via our website at www.japcc.org, like us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, or send us an email to to give us your opinion.
Ciao and good reading!
Giuseppe Sgamba
Brigadier General, IT AF
Assistant Director, JAPCC
