Title: Gray Space and the Warfighter
Subject: The commercialization of space and its impact on operational planning.
Author(s): Juan D. Holguin; Timothy R. Newman; James M. Burlingame; Colleen M. Ryan; James B. Near Jr. (Faculty Advisor); Nancy Perry (Faculty Advisor)
DTIC Keywords: AIR FORCE PLANNING, ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES, COMMUNICATION SATELLITES, INTERNET, METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES, MILITARY PLANNING, NAVIGATION SATELLITES, RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITES, SCIENTIFIC SATELLITES, SPACE BASED, SPACE COMMUNICATIONS, SPACE DEFENSE, SPACE ENVIRONMENTS, SPACE SURVEILLANCE, SPACE TECHNOLOGY, SPACE TOOLS, SPACE WARFARE
Abstract:
The emerging commercial satellite industry is posing unique problems to the US
warplanner. Gray Space is defined as those satellite systems available to the
general populace that could potentially be used against the US and its allies
for hostile purposes. This hypertext markup language (HTML) research project
explores this issue.
The project is divided into four sections: (1) US Space Capabilities, Roles and
Systems (2) Use of Space in Desert Storm (3) Gray Space Satellite Systems
(4) Theater Planning. Section one begins by pointing out there is no official
US space doctrine published. However, the generally accepted four space roles
of Space Control, Force Enhancement, Space Support and Force Application are
discussed. Air Force Doctrine Document 4 (Draft) on space doctrine is then used
to enumerate various roles space brings to the fight, such as surveillance,
early warning, secure communications and meteorological information. Finally,
the various US military space systems and their capabilities are presented along
with a brief discussion of the civilian systems the military uses (the
military's use of Gray Space).
The second section looks at the use of space systems during the Gulf War, dubbed
the "first space war" by Gen Merrill McPeak. The issues of what needs to be
done to better integrate space into all facets of air operations is discussed.
In addition, it highlights how planners must understand how space can help them
better observe the battlefield and make more timely operational planning
decisions. Space must integrate its activities into all exercises and training
so every airmen can use space. Warfighters must demand user equipment for their
aircraft and weapons which will increase the lethality, versatility and
precision of all aerospace systems. Space must be made more accessible to
planners and warfighters. The "space bureaucracy" is far too complex and should
be streamlined and made user friendly. The space community and the warfighter
need to work as one toward becoming the "air and space force".
The third section of the HTML provides background on numerous Gray Space
systems, including images and text describing missions, satellite summaries, and
basic descriptions of goods and services. Most of the information contained in
this section came from the Internet; the remainder came from open source books
and magazines. Gray Space satellite systems are broken into four main
categories: Surveillance Satellites—providing multispectral remote sensing
from space for earth resources management applications, and potentially for
intelligence collection purposes, Communication Satellites—providing
reliable global communications via radio, video, fax, or pager, Meteorological
Satellites—providing up-to-date weather information, and Navigation
Satellites—providing accurate positioning data for worldwide users.
The fourth section highlights the challenges Gray Space assets have on
theater war planners. Space has improved the way the US military fights its
wars—without their space eyes and ears they could be fighting in the blind
once again. The tough question is how to achieve and maintain the control of
space while denying an enemy the same. To understand the impact of Gray
Space assets, a warfighter must work with USSPACECOM to obtain a list of all
satellites, military and civilian, within his theater of operations. Therefore,
the research project identifies satellites that may be used by selected nations
to augment their military force structure. The countries selected represent
nations where the United States has intervened militarily in the past or where a
future conflict may take place. The warfighter must do an assessment of what
satellite services are available to both friend or enemy. At that point a risk
assessment must be done to help decision makers decide what instruments of power
must be used to counter the space threat. In addition, they must identify
Gray Space assets they want to augment their force structure, such as the
leasing of INTELSAT satellite bandwidth to increase communication capacity.
In the conclusion the concept of Gray Space is summarized. Gray
Space is the predominant threat to continued United States control of space.
A brief description of the goods and services available is presented, with
examples of how an enemy could use surveillance, communications, meteorological,
and navigation data to inflict damage upon the United States or her allies. The
conclusion ends with a discussion of how the warfighter could potentially combat
the Gray Space threat, although no real easy answers exist. But to hope
to defeat an enemy, one must first understand it-this document helps the
warfighter address this critical first step.