Military Use Cases
Dense threat environments will threaten freedom of maneuver through anti-access, area denial (A2AD) and radically compressed timelines will challenge the ability to prosecute time-sensitive targets as adversaries deploy next-generation weapons systems outfitted with advanced stealth, speed, and flight characteristics. As a result, militaries must adapt to the technologically disruptive environment where the speed of warfare is massively accelerated.
Legacy constructs for operational planning, command and control (C2), and delivering effects will become redundant. To operate at the speed of relevance, increasing levels of automation need to be introduced into the OODA cycle by exploiting emerging technologies. In responding to these new dynamics, the space domain will be vital to militaries for the better preparation, management, and assessment of future battlespaces.
By proposing the ability to see, understand, decide and act faster than adversaries at the operational and, increasingly, tactical levels of warfare, space-based capabilities will be decisive for preserving freedom of maneuver and allowing effective responses in relevant timelines.
Legacy constructs for operational planning, command and control (C2) and delivering effects will become redundant.
Specifically, space will be crucial for enabling three key capabilities: A new positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capability independent of Global Positioning System (GPS), which is increasingly vulnerable to interference and countermeasures; Space-based intelligence, surveillance, tracking and reconnaissance (ISTAR) to support left-of-launch operations, provide threat early warning (TEW) and track mobile surface and airborne targets in real-time, and; enabling a more robust command, control, communications and battle management (C3BM) architecture that is fit for the future.
Revolution in Space
The space domain is at the start of a revolutionary transformation being made possible by technological breakthroughs that make it easier, faster and less costly than ever before to deploy satellites and space vehicles to perform a growing range of missions. The formation of new satellite constellations designed to provide persistent all-weather overhead coverage with high reliability and built-in redundancy are now in the works. Thousands of miniaturized satellites operating in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes of 750-1200 kilometers are expected to be launched in the coming years.
There is already more data available than legacy data processing systems can exploit and which existing radiofrequency (RF) can reliably transmit at the scale, speed and security required.
At the same time, accelerating advances in artificial intelligence (AI) is making it possible to rapidly process and fuse tremendous amounts of data, while emerging technologies such as optical communication (OC) will have a revolutionary impact for secure, long haul communications with low latency. The deployment of 5G networks will make possible internet of military things (IoMT) and the Combat Cloud, but it is OC, particularly in the space capabilities context, that will fundamentally redefine the future for military communication networks.
There is already more data available than legacy data processing systems can exploit and which existing radiofrequency (RF) can reliably transmit at the scale, speed and security required. This challenge will intensify as the data required for exploitation grows exponentially in future operational environments. Offering more secure and higher transmission rate inter-satellite and space-to-ground links, OC helps overcome the challenge of RF communications degraded by electronic warfare and will allow users to port terabits of data in seconds across distributed operational theatres.
Space-based capabilities exploiting AI and OC together will enable multi-domain situational awareness and enriched battlespace visualization to warfighters in unprecedented ways. Connecting ground-based C2 elements and remote warfighting platforms, space-based systems will be able to undertake mission processing, tasking and prioritization to achieve the information superiority allow militaries to move at the speed of relevance. Data dissemination routed across a mesh network in space will be able to generate optimized solutions for sensor/shooter tasking and allocation, while increasing levels of automation will enable kill chain closure in unprecedented timelines.
Moving at Speed
As the military use of space expands and new users of space emerge – military and non-military – the space domain will continue to become more congested, cluttered and contested. The use of space is shared and, in many cases, so too will the use of specific space assets – not only in-country with respect to sovereign capabilities but also those positioned within multinational structures or acquired through commercial agreements.
Beyond just a focus to generate space situational awareness, military space commands will therefore need to work closely with civilian and military counterparts domestically and, progressively, in the international context to effectively direct, deconflict and synchronize space plans, policies and operations. Given that military actors will not wield a monopoly over all aspects of C2 and decision-making in space, establishing a dedicated space command staffed by specialist personnel although imperative is just a starting point in a process that is will be evolutionary.
To truly absorb and unleash the potential offered by space and related emerging technologies, militaries will need to embrace innovation to strategically evolve towards a new way of warfare – across the services, with an emphasis on pushing the boundaries of joint warfighting.
Military space commands will need to be organized and led in ways that do not necessarily reflect traditional military approaches to military activity. The ability to embrace innovation at enterprise level will be pivotal in allowing militaries to harness the potential offered by space for military operations. Innovation in this context is not interpreted only in technological terms but extends to the continuous improvement of working models and processes to make them highly adaptable to changing needs and scenarios.
The challenge of moving at speed to exploit the opportunity offered by the space domain and emerging technologies relevant to its use is complex. As models are generated for the development future military space capabilities, attention will again by focused on the broader challenge of transformation facing militaries.
Plug-and-play space technologies in themselves do not trigger a transformative or lasting impact and will certainly not deliver the overmatch capabilities sought for the future. To truly absorb and unleash the potential offered by space and related emerging technologies, militaries will need to embrace innovation to strategically evolve towards a new way of warfare – across the services, with an emphasis on pushing the boundaries of joint warfighting.
Space-enabled C2BM with increasing levels of automation will redefine the notion of C2 as mission command is implied and decision-making is delegated to the lowest tactical levels possible. The ability of militaries to innovate and adapt to new realities by effectively evolving doctrine, training and operational paradigms, proactively where possible and reactively where necessary, as space capabilities are expanded to present new downstream uses will be decisive to achieving future competitive advantage.
