Note: Many of the experts on the crisis in aeronautics research are government employees and are prohibited from publicly stating their views on funding priorities. This statement was made by someone well versed in history but requested anonymity. It summarizes the more in-depth discussion from one of his recent research papers:

America and the Air and Space Revolution: Past Perspectives and Present Challenges, Dec 2004. (60 pages)

Excerpt: “Having invented the airplane, we should not let the contemporary predominance of American aviation in the world today lull us into thinking that we are immune from the very great challenges we face in ensuring American air and space technological superiority, and international commercial and military dominance. The battle is already joined—and if we are not careful, we will lose our air and space advantage in similar fashion to how China and Spain lost their maritime advantage centuries ago.”

The author is an AIAA Associate Fellow, and an aerospace historian of wide experience with the Smithsonian, NASA, and the Air Force. He wishes to stress that this essay represents his personal viewpoint, and is not to be construed as representing or implying a position of any organization of the U.S. government.