“Space is important for what the Army does…”
Well, duh. Ever since Adm. William Owens’ 1996 paper and Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski and John Gartska’s 1998 public paper (.doc) on Network-centric warfare, space guided military operations have been central to the military’s long term planning. What is network centric warfare?
Network-Centric Warfare derives its power from the strong networking of a well-informed but geographically dispersed force. The enabling elements are a high-performance information grid, access to all appropriate information sources, weapons reach and maneuver with precision and speed of response, value-adding command-and-control (C2) processes–to include high-speed automated assignment of resources to need–and integrated sensor grids closely coupled in time to shooters and C2 processes. Network-centric warfare is applicable to all levels of warfare and contributes to the coalescence of strategy, operations, and tactics. It is transparent to mission, force size and composition, and geography.
As front-lines and trench warfare are forgotten, innovation in satellite-military technology is constantly shaping our military’s future:
New satellites, radar sites, laser technology and missile defense locations overseas are among initiatives planned by the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command that will help warfighters in the next five years, according to Lt. Gen. Kevin T. Campbell.
The SMDC commander spoke at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Land Warfare Forum Breakfast in Washington on November 8, providing an overview of his command’s wide-ranging operations from Army astronaut Col. Doug Wheelock returning to earth Wednesday on the Space Shuttle Discovery to National Guard troops manning Ground- Based Missile Defense systems at Fort Greely, Alaska.
"Space is important for what the Army does," said Lt. Gen. Campbell, who also heads up the U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command "and it’s going to be more important." He explained that SMDC provides commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan satellite imagery, intelligence and reconnaissance, and communications capabilities.
Space-based communications were bolstered last month when the first Wideband Global SATCOM satellite was launched. Lt. Gen. Campbell said the new satellite has up to 10 times the capacity of older ones in the Defense Satellite Communications System. He said more of these new satellites will be launched in the next few years to replace the "legacy" system.
"We want to be responsive to (Joint Task Force) commanders – not commanders in Washington, but in the field – that’s where we want to go with this," Lt. Gen. Campbell said of SMDC initiatives.
He said the command is looking at ways to provide "coherent change detection" to support warfighters and route reconnaissance. Such initiatives might better detect improvised explosive devices in the future along convoy routes.
SMDC is also experimenting with new ways to provide early warning to troops, Lt. Gen. Campbell said. He wants to better integrate a global Ballistic Missile Defense System.
The Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC), a not-for-profit association committed to the rapid global deployment of network-centric applications, has been a big part of this innovation. They recently received an award for their development of a tool-kit for the development of network-centric systems:
The developers’ kit includes a company and industry-neutral set of NCW principles, processes, best practices and tools that are available free of charge at http://www.ncoic.org/. The Consortium’s online resources can help developers assure that a new system will advance interoperability; determine how a legacy system can bridge the gap between current and desired levels of net-centricity; and adapt systems to meet evolving interoperability and NCW requirements.
In accepting IDGA’s award, NCOIC chairman emeritus Harry Raduege said, "We salute IDGA for its efforts to advance net-centricity and for recognizing the Consortium’s contributions. Our tool kit enables the military to identify gaps between existing and planned systems’ ability to support NCW as well as their ability to operate within a network. It is part of a suite of deliverables that represents some of the best collaboration and thinking of industry, government and academia."
Among NCOIC’s other material is an explanation (.pdf) of how and why to develop Fly-Away-Kits (FLAK) to support Hastily Formed Networks(HFN) in the event of Complex Humanitarian Disasters (CHDs). *Exhale* Oh, and this is just a little too deep/complex to be tomorrow’s DIY post.
Nice demo video from Analytical Graphics:
