News
Protecting Satcom Without Going Broke
The U.S. military faces a satellite communications conundrum. It’s convinced that in a hot war, China and other countries wouldn’t hesitate to throw everything they have at American satellites and the drone video and battle orders they carry. Everything means kinetic anti-satellite weapons like the one China launched at one of its own satellites in 2007; lasers or microwaves; cyber attacks on command and control stations; and old-fashioned jamming.
AirSea Battle and America’s Maginot Line in Space
When strategic thinkers were trying to name what eventually would become AirSea Battle, there was discussion of naming it AirSeaSpace Battle. That makes for a very bad acronym, but in a way it’s probably more accurate.
Australia-funded WGS-6 Seen as Model for Future U.S. Military Constellations
/.../Todd Harrison, director for the nonprofit Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, /../ said including allies on future space programs offers benefits including stability, cost savings and improved interoperability.
Let Air Force Run the Military Satellites, Watchdog Argues
Here’s a crazy idea for the Pentagon: consolidate all of the military’s communications satellites under the command of one service, the Air Force. That way, program offices and their budgets will fall under the same chain of command, saving the military -- and the taxpayers and the satellite makers -- a whole lot of time and money.
Vulnerable Military Satellites Creating a ‘Maginot Line’ in Space
While the possibility of anti-satellite weapons, jamming and cyber-attacks aimed at the U.S. military’s fleets of communication satellites is making them vulnerable to adversaries, declining defense budgets constitute an equal threat to the space architecture the services rely upon, according to a report released July 24.
U.S. Space Systems, MILSATCOM ‘Have Critical Vulnerabilities,’ Report Says
The U.S. military depends heavily on its space-based assets, and perhaps the most important component of those capabilities are the military communications satellites that allow global command and control of combat forces.