U.S. Army Role in Space

Abstract : The future battlefield has been described as non-linear, chaotic, intense and highly lethal. To fight and win in this environment, the Army as developed the AirLand Battle Doctrine, which relies heavily on the fundamental tenets of initiative, agility, depth, and synchronization as it fights the close, deep and rear battle. Our current terrestrial intelligence and communications systems alone do not provide the sufficiency of connectivity, reliability and capacity to meet the demands of this new doctrine. These systems also suffer from electronic jamming, frequency detection and coverage limitations. New battlefield surveillance and communications systems offer increased day/night, all-weather capability to see deep behind enemy lines, but will be limited because of stand-off positioning limitations and air platform flight-time restrictions. Space-based systems cannot totally replace terrestrial and airborne systems but offer enhanced capabilities that provide timely, reliable information in a ready-to-use form necessary to fight the deep-attack doctrine. This paper will review current military uses of space and suggest several roles and missions for the Army in space as it moves into the 21st century and attempts to meet the demands of the AirLand Battle 2004 Doctrine.