To say that the future of the U.S. military is more software-enabled, and more network-enabled than ever before would be a massive understatement. Everything that the military is developing and piloting for use in battle today needs connectivity.

Just look at the Army’s IVAS program, which is working to deliver an advanced augmented reality (AR) solution to the warfighter on the battlefield – putting important information, situational awareness capabilities, and other tools directly in their field of vision via a HoloLens headset.

According to Steve Kitay, the Senior Director of Azure Space at Microsoft, the IVAS headset will be augmented by Azure cloud services, and function to, “[keep] soldiers safer and [make] them more effective…[by] delivering enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing, and decision making for a variety of scenarios.”

And while this is certainly an exciting and revolutionary new tool in the warfighter’s kit, it’s only possible with connectivity in theater.

If everything that the warfighter relies on in theater is going to become network-enabled, then connectivity needs to be assured. Training a soldier to rely on a tool that only works when connected would be setting them up for failure if the network that supports the tool can be degraded or denied. Resilient, assured networks are no longer “nice to have,” they’re mission-critical.

While that looks good on paper, assured networks are easier to discuss – or write about – than they are to implement in the real world.

Complexity and a lack of transparency impact uptime
The terrestrial networks that provide the backbone of our high-bandwidth connectivity at home are incredibly stable and reliable, with SLAs and uptimes that ensure that connectivity is almost always available. Unfortunately, those terrestrial networks, themselves, are often unavailable where the military and government operates.

In foreign countries and isolated geographic locations, terrestrial networks may not exist at all. If that infrastructure does exist, it could be unreliable, or it could be untrusted. But that’s not just a problem that the military faces abroad. There are large swaths of our own country with no high-bandwidth terrestrial networks due to cost, geography, or other reasons.

In these places, satellite connectivity is essential and necessary to deliver the high-bandwidth, high-throughput, low-latency connectivity necessary for the government and military to operate their next-generation, network-enabled platforms, devices, and vehicles.

“…Hydra includes an inventory management system that integrates shared and dedicated devices, circuits, and the space segment into the same contextual environment…[allowing users] to schedule and monitor the entire end-to-end network in a single, integrated pane of glass, diagnose problems more rapidly, and fix problems before they take applications, services, and capabilities offline.” – Amit Katti

But adding satellite communications to the network infrastructure for government agencies and the military effectively increases the complexity of the networks – giving them a network architecture that incorporates assets on Earth, and in space. Much like with a modern car that’s more of a computer than an automobile, this increased complexity can also mean that there are more things that can fail or more things that can go wrong.

Worse, the military is utilizing a number of disparate terrestrial networks, disparate terrestrial hardware, and utilizing space assets and networks that include their own military assets, as well as commercial assets. This creates a lack of transparency and visibility into everything that’s happening across the network – a problem that the military is actively working to fix by embracing a joint operating environment across all of the DoD’s branches and organizations.

For the government and military to ensure connectivity and have assured networks, they need the ability to see the entire network – both terrestrial assets and space assets – on a single pane of glass. If a single, unified view of the network and the individual devices connected to it were available, the government and military would be able to diagnose problems more rapidly, and fix problems before they take applications, services, and capabilities offline.

Luckily, such a solution now exists.

Increasing transparency and uptime with Hydra
Earlier this week, commercial satellite operator, SES Space and Defense launched a new common operational picture (COP) platform called Hydra that the company claims, “…provides end-to-end situational awareness in a single unified operational network platform.”

Hydra was built in-house by SES Space and Defense specifically for their government and military customers. The solution integrates network data from multiple different sources – including operational data from the company’s satellite networks – and enables users to display it on a single dashboard or pane of glass. This could effectively enable the government and military the opportunity to view everything happening on and within their networks in one place – increasing transparency and allowing them to identify and remediate problems with the network more quickly.

“In addition to providing basic M&C data, Hydra includes an inventory management system that integrates shared and dedicated devices, circuits, and the space segment into the same contextual environment,“ explained Amit Katti, a Principal Engineer at SES Space and Defense. “This ability to incorporate and visualize the entire network allows the customer to schedule and monitor the entire end-to-end network in a single, integrated pane of glass, diagnose problems more rapidly, and fix problems before they take applications, services, and capabilities offline.”

COP platforms, such as Hydra, could be revolutionary in enabling the military to better monitor their networks – both on Earth and in space – and identify problems before they bring down networks. With network-enabled and software-enabled devices, applications, and platforms making their way into every government and military mission and operation, the timing couldn’t be better.

Networks aren’t “nice to have” at the tactical edge anymore. They’re essential. COP platforms like Hydra are ensuring that these networks are always on and available to the warfighter. This way, the next-generation, high-tech tools that our government and military personnel rely on are there when and where they need them – even in the most remote and austere of environments.

In our next article on the Government Satellite Report, we’ll look at the military’s push for an integrated commercial and military satellite architecture, and how COP platforms like Hydra could help make that a reality.

To learn more about the new Hydra common operational picture platform, click HERE.

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By: Mark Wiggins, Director of DoD Business Development, Juniper Networks

Late last month, AFCEA sponsored their annual Technet Asia Pacific Conference, which brings together private industry and leading technology companies with thought leaders and decision makers from the Federal Government and United States Military. It’s the largest event in the Asia Pacific region that focuses on the unique defense issues impacting the region.

I had the opportunity to attend this year’s event in Honolulu, HI, to listen to military leaders describe their challenges and technology requirements in the region, and to discuss these things directly with senior military decision makers. And there was one particular theme that resonated across the entire conference – the need to operate in a communications degraded environment.

When North Korea was first test launching missiles and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were winding down, the Asia PAC theater was the focus of significant military attention. However, that area seemed to be on the back burner in recent months, thanks in large part to the threat of ISIS and other issues in the Middle East.

However, the Asia PAC region remains a priority for the United States military – especially as tensions between NATO and Russia rise, North Korea continues missile testing, and China continues to rapidly construct new islands in the South China Sea.

It’s fair to say that the Asia PAC theater needs the same level of focus – or even more – today than it did previously. And this creates unique challenges for the United States military, especially in the area of communications.

Today’s military relies heavily on the advanced capabilities and intelligence that networks deliver. Bandwidth is essential at the tip of the spear for communications between soldiers in-theater and senior decision makers back at home. It’s also critical for operating drones, sharing data and enabling access to today’s real time intelligence – which is increasingly coming in the form of bandwidth-hogging video.

Unfortunately, getting data to the Asia PAC region is a challenge. Terrestrial networks simply can’t be run since they’d have to physically travel through regions owned and controlled by our adversaries. This leaves the United States military relying on satellite communications – often commercial satellite communications services – for its bandwidth needs.

This situation was eloquently summarized by Randy Bland of COMSATCOM provider, SES Space and Defense, in a recent article on the GovSat Report:

“..establishing the networks that have the available bandwidth for today’s advanced IT capabilities could take years to implement…[and] often require running fiber through nations that aren’t necessarily friendly to the United States and its military interests…It’s for this reason that satellite communication…is becoming as essential to the military as the bandwidth it provides and data it delivers. Commercial SATCOM services carry the signals from unmanned aircraft back to military decision makers. They empower video collaboration between deployed personnel and leaders in the field. They deliver the capabilities, applications and bandwidth that today’s military expects on base – out in the field.”

But getting the data to the region is just one concern. Protecting it from being degraded, compromised or otherwise impacted is another significant challenge – especially considering the adversaries the United States faces in this region. Both China and Russia are sophisticated adversaries with incredible technology at their disposal, making information assurance and security a distressing problem.

First, there’s the issue of jamming or compromising the satellite signal, itself. Luckily, this is something that is becoming a smaller problem thanks to the integration of COMSATCOM into the military satellite environment. Passing signals over COMSATCOM essentially creates deception, since it hides government traffic and data on a satellite that could be carrying other, commercial information. Then, there’s the emergence of High Throughput Satellites (HTS), which utilize “spot beams” that deliver tremendous bandwidth and throughput. These “spot beams” are smaller and more concentrated, which effectively makes the signal harder to jam since perpetrators would need to be physically in the beam’s coverage area.

Once the data and connection is physically in the region thanks to the satellite, it still needs to travel through established terrestrial networks to get to the individuals that need access to the information and bandwidth. And these networks create an additional vulnerability. They can be hacked by malicious actors employed by adversary states, they can be brought down by DDoS attacks, they can even be monitored and compromised thanks to malware.

One of the most interesting technologies receiving a lot of attention wasn’t specifically a security technology, per se. The technology I’m referring to is Software Defined Networking – or SDN. SDN is a new way to build and architecture the networks themselves, where the control and services plane of the network are virtualized. This essentially means that the plane that choreographs the network, understands its structure and defines what services are offered is now software. The virtualization of services also allows more flexibility and agility by eliminating individual “boxes” or pieces of hardware that service one purpose and replacing them with more general pieces of equipment that can be assigned a task or service function.

The end result of moving to a SDN enabled network is more agility. Changes to the network no longer require physical movement and interaction with pieces of hardware. The network is now more flexible and can be changed from one centralized application. This not only decreases downtime by decreasing human error, it allows the military to better respond to the cyberattacks that will invariably be coming from their adversaries.

Imagine a situation where traffic can be routed around devices or parts of the network that have been compromised or brought down by an adversary’s cyberattack. This is the level of flexibility and agility that SDN enables. SDN allows the military to “reshuffle the deck” while not compromising the network, or the services it’s delivering.

The Technet Asia PAC Conference couldn’t have come at a better time. The Asia Pacific theater is once again a major concern and consideration for both the military and the American people as a whole. This region also creates a host of unique and challenging problems when it comes to delivering and securing the data sharing, communications and IT capabilities today’s warfighter expects and relies on in the field. Thankfully, through an increasing reliance on COMSATCOM, advancements in SATCOM technologies, and the emergence of SDN and other security technologies, the military has the tools it needs to better establish and protect network connections in theater than ever before.

This article was originally published on The Modern Network by Mark Wiggins, the Director of DoD Business Development at Juniper Networks. Read the full, original article by clicking HERE.

Feature image courtesy of U.S. Pacific Command.

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Based on the panel discussions and side sessions at this year’s conference, it was clear that a new energy and spark has been ignited within the satellite community – one being ignited by a new wave of innovation from startup companies that are entering the space industry. The drivers for these new startup companies – whose emergence is being tabbed New Space – are reduced barriers to entry thanks in large part to decreased launch and satellite construction costs.

Although the emergence of New Space and the increased attention and excitement around the satellite industry, it comes at a price. The decreased cost to build satellites, the emergence of veritable “commercially available, off the shelf” satellites and the increased access to space thanks to cheaper, more convenient launch could create as many challenges as opportunities.

With satellites easier and less expensive to launch, a veritable army of new satellites are poised to enter – and in some cases, already entering – Earth’s orbit. This is especially the case in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), where access is the easiest and most inexpensive. This influx of new satellites is creating traffic in Earth’s orbit, and generally increasing the chances for collisions and other issues in space.

With New Space receiving so much attention at this year’s event, it’s no surprise that the dangers threatening satellites were also a popular discussion point – they go hand-in-hand. As the density of satellites increases, so does the threat that these satellites will collide.

But the threat to space and satellites isn’t restricted to accidental collision. There are other threats in space – including more malicious threats – that can significantly impact a satellite’s lifespan and ability to function. This aggregated threat landscape was the topic of an entire panel discussion moderated by Tim Deaver, the Corporate Vice President of Development at SES Space and Defense, and an occasional contributor to the GovSat Report, entitled, “The Growing Threat to Space.”

One of the first topics discussed during this panel was the fact that spacecraft – especially those in close contact – could be used for purposes other than what they appear designed to do. For example, satellites in close proximity to others could be used to monitor the signal of those other satellites, steal information or even force them to change their orbit.

This sentiment was echoed by Pat Rayermann of Airbus, who stated, “As we think about all of the capabilities we’re thinking of putting in space today – rapid, affordable launch, potential satellite servicing, robotic assembly of spacecraft – every one of those capabilities could also be used for malicious purposes.”

This creates concerns as more countries – including some of our largest adversaries – pursue increased, more aggressive space and satellite programs. This also creates a need for nations to come together and identify the “rules of the road” for operating in space. And when looking to identify these rules, Pat encouraged regulators to work together with industry and move slowly to ensure they keep space investments safe while not impacting innovation. According to Pat:

“…I think it’s very important to allow these discussions and rules to develop over time. If we try to adopt a rules set in advance and preclude certain activities, we may find out that we precluded an activity that could be key to some future innovations. It is appropriate for our regulatory and legal regime to adapt slowly over time, but it is an important piece, figuring out how do we manage what can be perceived as threats.”

Another common threat that was discussed during this panel – and across many discussions during the show – was the concern around hacking satellites and satellite communications. These threats could be malicious threats from outsiders, or – as one panelist noted – they could be insider threats – the result of disgruntled insiders or mistakes by trusted insiders.

When dealing with the potential hacking and cyber security threats affecting satellites, Andrew D’Uva of Providence Access Company discussed how there needs to be a shift in how we think about and prepare for these threats. Ultimately, the focus needs to change from prevention, to response.

“The old mentality was, build a wall around our systems and as long as we build it high enough and strong enough, we’re safe,” Andrew said. “We have to come to the realization that these threats are real, they’re continuous and it’s not about risk elimination, it’s about risk management. If someone gets through the first wall…we have to build the skillset up to deal with that.”

However, there could be a simple solution to securing satellites from hackers – use more COMSATCOM services. According to Andrew, “…a lot of time, money and effort is being spent by COMSATCOM operators [on security] because nobody wants to be the first COMSATCOM company that was compromised.”

In fact, utilizing COMSATCOM services can be a solution for securing communications via satellite for multiple reasons. First, the satellite providers have been in business for decades and are very familiar with the threats present in space. But, less discussed is the role that COMSATCOM can play in resiliency by enabling an organization, military branch or government agency to diversify, distribute and proliferate their satellite communications while also deploying deception by hiding signals among commercial satellite signals. Ultimately, spreading communications capabilities and signals across government owned and commercial satellites decreases the chances that a single threat can directly impact mission readiness while ensuring that communications are only slightly diminished – and easily recovered – should an attack on a single satellite occur.

The excitement surrounding New Space is warranted. This new era of innovation and interest in space and satellites is stimulating and promising – full of potential for new capabilities and services in space. However, New Space isn’t without its challenges and negatives. The proliferation of satellites is adding to an already crowded threat landscape facing satellites. However, through regulation, cooperation and use of COMSATCOM, organizations, military branches and government agencies can ensure they always have access to mission-critical satellite communications.

For more information on threats to space, be sure to read our previous post from Space Symposium 2015. For more information on commercial SATCOM, visit our Resource Center.

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