Gen. Allvin’s sentiment was an eloquent way to say that the U.S. military will need to work as a single unit and not disparate services – and will need to work hand-in-hand with coalition and industry partners – if it’s going to be victorious in the battles of the future.

This is not the first time we’ve heard a senior leader from one of America’s military branches discuss the need for collaboration to ensure success against the near-peer adversaries of tomorrow. This has been one of the fundamental cornerstones of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as it builds its future force for the year 2030 and beyond.

However, collaboration, integration, and interoperability in one domain, in particular, have long been a challenge for the military. In space, where allied and industry partners each bring their own constellations of spacecraft and ground networks, getting everything to work together remains a challenge. And that challenge only grows more significant as the space domain continues to evolve from a benign domain into a warfighting domain.

To learn more about the need for interoperable space and ground networks as joint multi-domain operations become essential, we recently sat down with Ram Rao, the Director of Business Development Engineering, Technologies, and Solutions at SES Space & Defense. During our discussion, we asked Ram about the challenges that an austere space domain creates for the DoD, the technological challenges that the military faces when trying to integrate satellite networks with coalition and industry partners, and what some industry leaders are doing to make the seamless management of unified global networks a possibility for our military.

Government Satellite Report (GSR): It’s apparent that the battles of tomorrow will cross domains – requiring capabilities to be delivered from the space and cyber domains to joint warfighters from the U.S. and its allies on land, in the air, and at sea. How do military networks become more complex and complicated when the space domain and space capabilities are added to the equation?

Ram Rao: Correct. The U.S. DoD’s JADC2 framework is all about our warfighters and decision-makers from every service area – such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guard, and now the Space Force – participating in and sharing quality data to make effective and timely decisions before our adversaries can act. Of course, this seems easy at a high level, but it’s very complicated to implement, albeit required.

It is not a secret anymore that our adversaries – especially China and Russia – have been advancing and testing their space and cyber war capabilities in the last few years. In fact, they’ve been developing and testing these capabilities aggressively in the space domain over the past year.

We have read about anti-satellite (ASAT) tests conducted by Russia and China that resulted in the destruction of satellites in orbit. We also have witnessed China grabbing its satellite from the GEO orbit and maneuvering into a graveyard orbit. It is obvious they are preparing and testing various capabilities that can enable them to deny our nation’s access to satellite connectivity. Capabilities like these have turned space from a benign environment into a warfighting domain.

Warfighting in domains such as land, water, and air has existed for a long time. There have been hundreds or thousands of strategies and tactics developed in these domains that have evolved. The space domain is a new warfighting domain, and defensive and offensive capabilities are still being developed and tested.

“…the interaction between different networks is not as integrated, automated, or seamless. It’s often done through the direct interfacing of circuits with VPN or HTTPS connections. Or lower-tech, less efficient methods are utilized – such as email, DVD, or paper.” – Ram Rao

Also, in space, there are no area limits or rules. The traditional warfighting domains have rules of engagement and occur in space-restricted arenas. Space is huge, there are no established rules of engagement, and the capabilities are still evolving. This makes the space domain much more complicated.

GSR: What impact does the introduction of commercial satellite services have on the resiliency and assuredness of space capabilities?

Ram Rao: The DoD figured out long ago that the commercial industry and the integration of COMSATCOM services into their MILSATCOM solutions is crucial for mission-critical capabilities. I believe that integrating LEO, MEO, and GEO capabilities from the U.S. military, allied militaries, and commercial partners is a massive deterrent to our adversaries.

These capabilities tremendously increase our resiliency in space and on the ground, making it difficult for adversaries to deny our satellite capabilities. The high speed, high bandwidth, low latency, and pole-to-pole coverage that COMSATCOM can provide is unparalleled and well-positioned for integration with MILSATCOM.

GSR: What challenges does the added complexity of integrating multiple satellite resources and services create from a network transparency, assurance, and management standpoint?

Ram Rao: There are multiple challenges. But the government and its industry partners are well aware of these challenges and are working collaboratively to solve them.

When we say COMSATCOM and MILSATCOM, we’re not just referring to two disparate networks. We are talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of disparate networks that need to be integrated worldwide.

“The DoD figured out long ago that the commercial industry and the integration of COMSATCOM services into their MILSATCOM solutions is crucial for mission-critical capabilities. I believe that integrating LEO, MEO, and GEO capabilities from the U.S. military, allied militaries, and commercial partners is a massive deterrent to our adversaries.” – Ram Rao

Network transparency, assurance, and management require agreed-up visibility and a standardized network interface. For example, the U.S. Space Force Enterprise Management & Control (EM&C) system requires network management systems from different DoD and commercial networks to be integrated at different levels.

That is a challenging task. Every participating COMSATCOM network may not follow the same standards. Also, when we start integrating the satellite capabilities of allied and coalition nations, we have to expect that different countries may follow different standards.

Assurance requirements for all countries are not the same. It’s difficult to ensure that various networks align on multiple requirements, including access levels. However, leading COMSATCOM industry players like SES Space & Defense have the infrastructure, capability, and experience necessary to integrate and operate as a part of a global military network.

GSR: How is the visualization and management of the whole military network – including military and commercial space assets and capabilities – done today? What tools exist that enable the military to see and manage everything?

Ram Rao: Most individual networks with their network management systems (NMS) have required visualization and management capabilities. However, the interaction between different networks is not as integrated, automated, or seamless. It’s often done through the direct interfacing of circuits with VPN or HTTPS connections. Or lower-tech, less efficient methods are utilized – such as email, DVD, or paper.

“The U.S. DoD’s JADC2 framework is all about our warfighters and decision-makers from every service area…participating in and sharing quality data to make effective and timely decisions before our adversaries can act. Of course, this seems easy at a high level, but it’s very complicated to implement, albeit required.” – Ram Rao

Not only is this laborious, but it doesn’t move at the pace of battle. Speed of delivery – especially during warfighting times – is a top priority for every military decision-maker.

A number of tools and platforms are being developed and introduced across the industry that provides a unified view of the network. Solutions such as the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Portal, recently introduced by SES Space & Defense provides transparent and consolidated network visibility improving performance and operational decision-making.

To learn more about the SES S&D ICT Portal, click HERE.

Featured image: U.S. Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, set up a Satellite Transportable Terminal (STT) system at Orzysz, Poland. The STT is an optimized, over-the-horizon communications system ideally suited for tactical communications missions. (U.S. Army photos by Charles Rosemond, Training Support Team Orzysz)

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As Vice Chief of Space Operations, General Thompson is responsible for assisting the Chief of Space Operations, and organizing, training, and equipping space forces in the U.S. and overseas – integrating space policy guidance and coordinating space-related activities. He is a career space officer with assignments in operations, acquisition, research and development, and command.

Thompson opened the forum by expressing his excitement over the recent confirmations of U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones. According to Thompson, both Secretary Kendall and Under Secretary Jones have hit the ground running and are quickly facilitating the next phase of Space Force. “We’re excited they’re here and that civilian leadership is in place,” expressed Thompson.

Thompson then gave an update on where Space Force currently stands. He explained that year one of Space Force was focused on inventing the force, designing it, and getting it in place. Though there will be several more years of fully building out the force, Thompson proudly announced that the design and resourcing phase of establishing Space Force is complete.

Year two’s primary focus has been on the integration of the force. “We’ve taken some pretty aggressive and significant steps thus far,” said Thompson. He explained that “integration” includes integration of the force with the services, the combatant commands, and with partners and allies.

“They’re trailblazing the path for large-scale interservice transfer from those services into the Space Force. They’ve already begun that activity. And even as we speak, we are selecting up to about 350 others from that group, who will follow behind them once they trailblaze the path to that inter-service transfer.” – General David “DT” Thompson

The first step of the force’s integration is interservice transfer. The Space Force began with a large transfer of individuals from the U.S. Air Force, resulting in about 5,800 individuals in uniforms. In addition to bringing in candidates from the Air Force Academy, Space Force is also looking to bring in 50 interservice transfers from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and the Navy.

“They’re kind of our beta test,” said Thompson. “They’re trailblazing the path for large-scale interservice transfer from those services into the Space Force. They’ve already begun that activity. And even as we speak, we are selecting up to about 350 others from that group, who will follow behind them once they trailblaze the path to that inter-service transfer.”

In addition to manpower transfers, Thompson stated that Space Force is currently finalizing transfers of satellite communications, missions, and functions from the Army and the Navy.

Another recent and important milestone that Thompson highlighted was U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command sending elements to the United States Pacific Command’s (USPACOM) Pacific Sentry exercise. This step was key to understanding how the U.S. Space Force as a service, and U.S. Space Command as a combatant command, integrate, provide capabilities, and contribute to combatant commander operations and objectives. Both Space Force and Space Command sent one-star officers to the exercise to lead teams. According to Thompson, “I think it was incredibly productive, not just for our two organizations, but helping to inform the other combatant commands how we should proceed.”

Thompson also explained that Space Force is already deep into mil-to-mil connections with a host of countries. “They’ve reached out to us to look at how we develop and expand relationships, and how we better do in space, what the nation – and our allies and partners – have known how to do for decades in the air, on land, and at sea,” said Thompson.

Thompson further explained that these countries are not just “our tried-and-true and well-understood partners.” Space Force has had countries from South America and others in the Indo-Pacific who are interested in establishing some sort of a mil-to-mil relationship as it pertains to security in space.

To preface his update on Space Force’s proposed 2022 budget, Thompson explained that the main catalysts that drove the force’s creation were “the threats that we face, the fact that we now have to defend and protect those capabilities we provide, and to look at how we deny those capabilities to others.” He went on to say that Space Force brings “coherence, consistency, and unity to those activities inside of the Department of Defense.”

“In addition to protecting what we have today, we’re going to pivot toward architectures in the future that are designed to be resilient, robust, and deliver capabilities under attack.” – General David “DT” Thompson

Thompson then detailed Space Force’s priorities for the 2022 budget. He explained that the force is still working with Congress on final implementation. “Our priorities for that budget were to ensure that we can continue to provide the capabilities we already have,” said Thompson. “That includes everything from GPS to missile warning to satellite communications to supporting the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and others with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) in space. We’re really focusing on defending and protecting those capabilities so that they can continue to provide what they need under attack.”

He then discussed how Space Force is pivoting toward designs, systems, architectures, and forces that are designed to operate under threat. Thompson explained, “In addition to protecting what we have today, we’re going to pivot toward architectures in the future that are designed to be resilient, robust, and deliver capabilities under attack.”

Thompson said that Space Force must look at a host of ways to deny adverse use of space capabilities. He used the Indo-Pacific region as a prime example. “Left to its own devices, our forces in that part of the world – maritime, air, land, and others – will be under constant surveillance and monitoring by China over its space constellation,” said Thompson. “That poses a great threat to our joint forces and to our potential operations. We have to have a means by which to address them.”

According to Thompson, up until now, Space Force’s test and evaluation enterprise was focused on ensuring that its satellites operated effectively in the space domain. He explained that there now must be a shift to create a test and evaluation enterprise that tests and confirms that these capabilities operate under attack – similar to combat aircraft, combat action groups at sea, etc.

“We now have to build the enterprise that does that,” said Thompson. “We have to have more effective and detailed management of an entire suite of space professionals…we need all those enablers that need to support what is truly a military service, and more importantly, military forces in the domain.”

Featured image: Air Force Staff Sgt. Jamie Franco recites the oath of enlistment during a change of service ceremony at Osan Air Base, South Korea. Jamie and her husband, Frank, both made the jump from the Air Force to the Space Force. (Photo courtesy of Air Force Staff Sgt. Betty Chevalier.)

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Although the content at AFCEA West is applicable to all of the military, the event is heavily attended and focused on those in the “sea service” branches of the military – including the Navy, Marine Corps, Military Sealift Command and Coast Guard. In fact, I would call AFCEA West the premier sea service conference on the west coast – and possibly in the country.

Although not specifically satellite communications (SATCOM) focused, I’m always excited to attend AFCEA West because SATCOM is so essential to the missions of these sea service military organizations. SATCOM is their life-line, connecting them back to decision makers at home. Based on discussions at this year’s event, its role is only becoming more essential as the nature of warfare changes.

Why satellite for the sea services?
The Navy and the other sea services have a unique challenge that the other branches of the military don’t face. At sea, they have limitations which prevent them from communicating in the same manner as their counterparts in other services.

It’s for this reason that satellite has become so essential for the sea services. Communicating mission essential data and information to and from at sea platforms means sending it via satellite.

This is especially true in regions where sea services are providing support for critically important, national level missions – in the littoral regions in Southwest Asia, Africa and the western Pacific. Some of these regions are literally on the opposite side of the globe, making satellite connectivity all the more essential.

More connected means more bandwidth
Today’s warfighter is more connected and more reliant on information technology (IT) services and capabilities than ever before. The same can be said for ships at sea. The same IT services and capabilities that are available to U.S. service personnel on land are expected at sea, and those IT services, and capabilities are increasingly hosted in the cloud and require high bandwidth connections to run effectively.

At the same time, the nature and format of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data has changed and evolved. Today’s advanced sensors, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) platforms and other sources of intelligence are generating higher resolution, high definition (HD), and sometimes streaming video. They’re also generating more data than the military can effectively and efficiently process, exploit and disseminate.

All told, the military is generating countless terabytes of data each day. With large files and an embarrassment of data riches being shared across the military, the need for high bandwidth connections to platforms becomes increasingly essential.

There is always the need to increase efficiency and operate more effectively. One of the ways that the sea services have identified to accomplish this is to share resources across multiple ships.

Take medical personnel as an example. Having a team of doctors aboard each ship means having one team for each ship at sea. Instead, if video teleconferencing (VTC) was utilized in telemedicine installations aboard each ship, a single team of specialists and other medical personnel could be shared – cutting costs and helping increase efficiency.

To accomplish IT implementations such as this, however, high bandwidth and low latency connections are required. Luckily, these connections are available and starting to see adoption across the military.

MEO HTS steals the show
The isolated nature of the sea services and their increasing reliance on IT capabilities and applications make satellite essential. But, traditional GEO satellite constellations could struggle to affordably deliver the throughputs necessary to run these advanced applications.

That’s why advanced Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) High Throughput Satellites (HTS) was the topic of so many of my discussions at AFCEA West this year.

The decision makers and senior leaders of the sea services understand they need higher throughputs and lower latencies to meet warfighting applications with demanding bandwidth requirements, including delivering large-file transfers, streaming HD videos, video teleconferencing, and many others. MEO HTS managed services are satellite solutions that can deliver it for them.

The conversations that I had at this year’s AFCEA West are indicative of a larger trend we’re seeing across the military – a reliance on higher throughputs, lower latency solutions provided in a cost-effective managed service.  Although we’ve not – yet – delivered this type of service to any of the U.S. sea services, their demand for greater capacity will eventually lead them to a MEO solution.  SES Space and Defense is ready to support and deliver!

To learn more about how MEO constellations can be used to enable a more connected, modern Navy and Marine Corps, download the whitepaper, “High Throughput on the High Seas,” by clicking HERE.

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These ships receive a large number of services and capabilities thanks to their satellite connectivity. Satellite enables the sharing of high definition, actionable ISR data, it delivers morale welfare and recreation (MWR) services and it enables those onboard access to applications and IT services usually reserved for warfighters with two feet firmly planted on the ground.

However, today’s advanced applications – including SaaS and cloud services – and the need for increasingly high-quality ISR is drastically increasing the bandwidth requirements of ships at sea. This sentiment was shared by Paul Damphousse, the Senior Director for Business Development at SES Space and Defense, who said, “The requirements for throughput by themselves are increasing. That has a lot to do with where technology is going in general, where the demands of our naval leaders are going and where our required capabilities are going.”

Maritime agencies and the U.S. Navy are also innovating new technologies and platforms that can deliver enormous tactical advantages to our military while preserving the life of American servicemen and women. These new platforms – including autonomous and unmanned platforms – have immense upside, but also come with the downside of further driving up bandwidth requirements.

As Damphousse explained, “…more and more maritime systems are becoming network-enabled. In addition to our traditional manned ships, submarines, and aircraft, the Navy is incorporating new unmanned semi-autonomous and autonomous platforms. All that data has to move throughout the battlespace or backhauled to operations centers.”

Combined, these new applications, advanced technologies and innovative platforms are forcing the Navy and other maritime-focused government organizations to find a way to deliver higher throughput and higher bandwidth connectivity to ships at sea.

According to a new whitepaper, “High Throughput on the High Seas,” from SES Space and Defense, the answer may still be right in front of them – or, more accurately, above their heads.

In the white paper, they analyze increasing maritime bandwidth demands, and look at how today’s new MEO and HTS constellations can deliver the requisite fiber-like connectivity that these organizations need all via satellite.

Regardless of where on the ocean ships may be stationed or traveling, the steerable beams of this next generation of satellites can reach them. And with their closer proximity to Earth, and focused spot beams, they can deliver extreme throughputs with much lower latency – making them perfect for powering the most bandwidth-hungry of applications.

Click HERE to download a complimentary copy of the High Throughput on the High seas whitepaper from SES Space and Defense.

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Far flung military forces rely heavily on remote data processing capabilities that are highly sensitive to transmission delays, or latency, associated with communications satellites in geostationary orbit, some 36,000 kilometers above the equator, these experts said. Satellites in lower orbits do not have the same latency issues, making them better suited to support certain data-intensive military operations.

Speaking at MilSatCom USA, which was organized by the SMi Group of London, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, currently director of architecture, operations, networks and space in the office of the Army’s Chief Information Officer, served up a real-world example to illustrate the trend.

In 2016, U.S. forces operating on the ground against Islamic State fighters in Syria captured what Gallagher characterized as “treasure troves” of battlefield intelligence that would enable them to strike the enemy even harder.

“The problem was [that] the pipes were not there to get that [information] back to do the exploitation necessary to help the special operators on the ground continue to take the fight to the enemy,” Gallagher said. “So, we had to find a creative solution.”

Installing terrestrial fiber links was not an option, said Gallagher, who at the time was a senior information officer assigned to U.S. Central Command. So the Army turned to the commercial satellite sector, in particular, they leveraged a constellation of broadband satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) to provide the necessary connectivity at about 60% of the cost of GEO backhaul.

“It required a lot of engineering, a tail circuit and a whole lot of creative planning but ultimately our intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capability was enhanced by an innovative partnership between the CENTCOM team and industry,” Gallagher said. “And we solved the problem.”

Gallagher did not name the constellation, but there is only one that fits the description: SES’ O3b MEO satellites providing fiber-quality broadband links in the low to mid-latitude regions of the world. The constellation is wholly owned by SES, one of the world’s largest operators of communications satellites.

Commercial geostationary satellites are of course a critical complement to the military’s own systems in keeping the U.S. military forces connected. It is well known, for example, that in the early days of the U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, up to 80 percent of the supporting satellite bandwidth was commercially provided.

MEO satellite constellations, such as O3b – which began commercial service in 2014, represent a new capability that Gallagher said is increasingly in high demand: low-latency, high-capacity throughput. Geostationary satellites can have high capacity but are saddled with the latency issue, while current LEO systems lack the capacity to quickly move large amounts of data.

U.S. Marine Corps. Col. Curtis Carlin, of the J6 Operations Division at CENTCOM, displayed a chart during his conference presentation that said low-latency, as an attribute, is becoming almost as important as capacity for military customers. The reason is the military’s increasing reliance on what he characterized as enterprise services, an information technology term that typically refers to the integration of multiple software packages into a single platform that can be broadly applied across an organization to support its mission.

Skyrocketing data requirements among forces deployed in places like Afghanistan and Iraq that lack usable terrestrial infrastructure are driving the requirement for lower-latency systems operating in LEO and MEO, Carlin said.

This could be a boon to MEO satellite operators, as well as companies like OneWeb, which plan to deploy huge constellations of LEO broadband satellites in the coming years.

Carlin said the Marines rely heavily on intelligence information processed on servers at locations far removed from the battlefield, such as at service headquarters in Quantico, Va., or CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Fla. This processed information must be transmitted back to forces quickly enough for them to act before the situation on the ground changes, putting a premium on low latency, he explained.

Such “reachback” capabilities relieve U.S. forces of having to lug data servers into the field with them, but drive up demand for low-latency, high-throughput satellite connectivity, industry officials said. Modern web-based applications are generally intolerant of latency, one industry official said.

As Gallagher put it, in relating how MEO satellites came to the rescue in 2016, “there are a lot more of those requirements brewing.”

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