Why We Need the Aerospace Committee

U.S. intelligence officials and defense experts widely agree that China engaged in extensive cyber espionage to steal F-35 design data, which was then incorporated into its own stealth fighter programs like the J-31 and J-35. These planes are now sold by China to countries that are adversarial to the U.S.

When aerospace was the first committee formed in the American Legion (along with the committees to determine the official name, headquarters, etc.), Legionnaires were very concerned about how unprepared the United States was for aviation in World War I, and the important role airpower played in winning the war. Over the following decades, the American Legion played a major role in promoting airpower in the military and in building a civilian infrastructure to support it, as European countries had far surpassed the technology of American aviation. With a strong and difficult push by the American Legion to develop American airpower, the United States entered World War II prepared to defend the skies over America, our troops landing in Europe, and in defending the Pacific war zone.

For most of the past century, every Department in the American Legion had a commission or committee for Aeronautics, with representatives at every administrative level of the Legion, right down to the Post level. Over the last few decades, the Aerospace Committee seems to have lost its appeal, and today, California seems to be the last Department with an active Aerospace Commission, and the National Aerospace Committee has not even held a meeting in many years.

This is an alarming situation, as even during the years from 1927 to 1930 when there was no National Aerospace Committee due to the lack of a Chair, the grassroots work of aviation was continued enthusiastically by Legionnaires at the Department and other levels right down to the Post.

According to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, space is now a contested warfighting domain. As global competition accelerates and adversaries expand their counter-space capabilities, the United States faces an urgent challenge: strengthen the national security space ecosystem while accelerating innovation across the industrial base.

The Secretary of Defense issued a directive stressing that space is a priority domain for the U.S. military underpinning our national security. Space is fundamental to establishing, maintaining, and projecting military superiority across all other domains. U.S. and allied forces rely on satellites to deliver critical capabilities enabling the military to communicate, move, surveil, and engage the enemy. Dependence on space-based technology will only increase in the joint all-domain connected battlespace of the future.

Currently, the war in Iran is an all-air war, with no ground battles taking place; again, demonstrating the importance of air power. However, we would not fare so well if the threat was from an adversary that was on an equal technological echelon; which is why it is important that the American Legion maintain its work in Aerospace through the National Security Commission, with support and participation from every Department.