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Aerospace 2020 - Summary

The challenge of change which NATO is facing has many dimensions, one of which is
the rapid advance of technology. The changes are such that their combined effects
have the potential to significantly affect the quality of military strength in the future.

The NATO Advisory Group on Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD)
recognised that these changes and their ramifications are of such importance that they
should be examined more thoroughly. In March 1995 AGARD’s National Delegate
Board commissioned a study with the following objectives:

To assess how emerging technologies may influence changes in aerospace
systems and concepts of operation.

To alert decision makers to the advantages the emerging technologies may
have for NATO and NATO Nations. and to make them aware of the possible
threats that new and readily available technologies may pose when acquired by
potential adversaries.

To recommend to the Nations active pursuit. both individually and cooperatively,
of the most promising aerospace technologies and to offer advice. where
appropriate. on collective action.

To achieve these objectives, Aerospace 2020 explores the most advanced
technologies being researched and developed in laboratories today. Rather than
speculate on science and technology theories for the future, the study focuses on the
most promising current technologies and the organisational and tactical consequences
they will have at the field and system levels over the course of the next 25 years.

The scope of the study - from 1995 to the year 2020 - supports the view, held by many,
that all major systems which will be deployed in 10 years exist today. After ten years,
however, new systems may lead to radically new concepts in the way military force, or
the threat of its use, is employed to influence the wills and actions of others.

It has been noted that “20/20” vision is the medical designation for unimpaired
eyesight. and it is often said that “hindsight is always 20120”. It is AGARD's hope that
this study of aerospace technology, and the effects it will have as we approach the
year 2020, will prove to have been a clear vision with 20/20 foresight.