Another line of argument in favor of space-based weapons, or at least an argument for why they are inevitable, devolves from the fact that every environment accessible to man has eventually become an arena for combat. This line of reasoning was noticeable in then-Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall's address to the National Security Forum in May 1997: "You have, first off, a fundamental question of whether we will place weapons in space. We have a lot of history that tells us that warfare migrates where it can -- that nations engaged in a conflict do what they can, wherever they must. At a very tender age, aviation went from a peaceful sport, to a supporting function, very analogous to what we do today in space -- to a combat arm. Our space forces may well follow that same path." This argument holds that the evolution of warfare will inevitably require placing weapons in space in order to fulfill a multitude of military roles. These roles include defending against ballistic missile attack, defending space-based assets (the space control mission), and attacking terrestrial targets (the force application mission).

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Spacy, William L. Does the United States Need Space-Based Weapons?. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, September 1999. [ 11 quotes ] [ page 4 ]