Technology Initiatives in Support of Joint Warfighters-Seamless Integration From Space to Mud

Army, Dec 2004 by Schexnayder, Michael C

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) provides selected Army forces and capabilities to the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) as its Army service component command. USSTRATCOM is responsible for the conduct of global warfighting missions in the areas of global missile defense, global strike, information operations, space, and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

SMDC conducts mission-related research, development and acquisition in support of the Army, the Missile Defense Agency and USSTRATCOM for both current and future operations. SMDC supports the Army Materiel Command and Training and Doctrine Command in the Army Campaign Plan to develop an integrated and synchronized plan for technology development and transition.

Though SMDC efforts in missile defense are generally well known, its space efforts are not as well known. The U.S. soldier in the 21st century faces the same battlefield questions his predecessors of all wars and battles faced: Where is the enemy? Can they see me if I move over there? Where are other friendly forces? What does the ground look like on the other side of that hill? SMDC is rapidly identifying, developing and moving technologies to put solutions to those and other problems into the hands of joint warfighters. At every level, from the soldier on the ground to national test facilities, SMDC is seamlessly integrating the latest technologies-from space to mud.

In the very near future, soldiers may no longer have to ask, "Where is that enemy fire coming from?" The overwatch advance concept and technology demonstration (ACTD), managed by SMDC's Technical Center, is an outgrowth of earlier efforts to use satellites to detect and classify weapons firing that was itself an adaptation of a space-based missile defense warning satellite. In the demonstration, an airborne overwatch system was able to detect and locate tank and artillery fire up to 40 kilometers away and to classify the type of weapon fired.

The overwatch ACTD is now seeking to refine this capability for ground forces by adding the ability to detect small arms fire. The current ACTD focus is to miniaturize the hardware to the size of cell phones to permit mounting on small unmanned ground and air vehicles. The overwatch technology has demonstrated an exceptional ability to detect, locate and classify everything from small arms fire to rocket-propelled grenades to manportable air defense systems. In the overwatch program, SMDC researchers have exploited the underlying detection technology of a space system and have deployed it for use by soldiers on the ground. SMDC is now working to link this system to automated gun mounts.

SMDC is also working to ensure that U.S. soldiers never have to wonder about where other friendly forces are operating. The joint blue force situational awareness (JBFSA) ACTD is showing how to collect, disseminate and display blue force tracking (BFT) data. During a recent demonstration, SMDC integrated seven different types of BFT technologies on a variety of platforms into a single enterprise system. Capitalizing on the potential of a wide range of commercial and government communications systems (especially satellites), information databases and display devices, the JBFSA ACTD enterprise solution is a viable way to provide commanders at all levels an inter-domain common operational picture, again using the space to mud concept. Because of the success of the ACTD so far, SMDC is working to field a leave-behind capability to satisfy the needs of the forces in the theater where the demonstration occurred.

Going a step further, a joint team is working on an initiative to give commanders their own capability to command and control space platforms and sensors from nearly anywhere. This next-generation space capability will use a concept known as the virtual mission operations center (VMOC). In June 2004, SMDC deployed equipment and personnel to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for the initial VMOC capability collaborative experiment involving the Air Force Space Battle Lab, SMDC's Future Warfare Center (formerly Battle Lab) and NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Using a software application accessed from their tactical operations center, users will be able to directly task on-orbit satellites to look over the next hill, from space to mud.

Thanks to the space support element toolset (SSET), soldiers are already getting a better idea of what the ground looks like on the other side of the hill. To help the Army meet new challenges in the war on terrorism, Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab developed and delivered the SSET to troops in the field. This proven prototype was combat tested in Afghanistan and Iraq. The latest SSET, version 2 (SSETv2), has recently been fielded to the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized).

Although it may appear to some to simply be another satellite communications system, the SSETv2 is much more. The system provides global reachback broadband communication that supports forward deployed space soldiers. The SSETv2 provides the tools and software to enable those soldiers to provide vital services and products to support operational and tactical commanders. Some of the many products are image maps that are updated using the latest commercial and government satellite imagery, so that soldiers no longer have to rely on potentially outdated paper maps, again linking space to mud.