Aerospace Technologies and Applications for Dual Use

The events occurred in the last years have shown how the threat related to both intentional and natural disasters could bring the civil and the military worlds closer in the conceivement and deploypment of countermeasures as well as in the identification of effective strategies for enhancing the Planet safety and security. In this frame, the concept of dual use, which refers to the set of technologies and applications that can be exploited for both civil and military purposes, becomes a key-topic to be addressed. In addition, the aerospace is a strategic building block for the deployment of a network centric environment for the global protection of the Planet and its population. Aerospace is also a natural environment for dual use: many of the related enabling technologies have been developed first for the military world and then applied to civil and even commercial purposes. On September 12-14, 2007 an International Symposium has been held in Roma, Italy, joining the dual use approach with the aerospace technology to call the international community around a key-topic for the future of mankind: aerospace technologies and applications for dual use. The event has gathered experts and operators from the military and civil community, belonging to industry, scientific and governamental institutions, all aiming at an effective convergence between the available and perspected technologies for the two worlds and the conceivement of applications that can take the maximum benefit from the dual approach, optimizing the available economic resources. The Symposium has presented invited-only contributions and an industrial panel. The main results of the International Symposium, derived from the key-note speeches, invited lectures, panel discussions and conclusions have been the starting material to create this Edited Book, the first on the topic, that can be considered as a milestone and a key-tool aimed at driving the industrial, scientific and institutional efforts of the international community to gaurantee a pleasant and safe future to the civil citizens, the military operators and the whole Planet.