(Part One: Playing Games in Space)
WASHINGTON, October 2 -- While leaders in the U.S. Air Force and U.S.
Space Command learn new lessons on the vulnerability of U.S. space
assets, new space battle laboratories, or "battlelabs," are working to
help soldiers, sailors and airmen on the ground.
"We're trying to measure the worth of new ideas and present the best to senior Air Force leaders," said Lt. Col. Terry Sando, deputy commander of the Space Battle Lab at Schriever Air Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Sando's group is one of six Air Force battlelabs spread across the country looking at how space assets can improve or enhance U.S. military operations.
The labs and other space warfare centers are each situated at military installations. The researchers look into such areas as information superiority, communications, reconnaissance, force protection, robot aircraft or other aspects of the military's operational and technological needs. Some projects can be discussed publicly, Sando said. And, of course, others are classified.
"There is no real limit as to what we can look into," said Sando. The labs have about 24 staffers assigned to each with a budget of $4.5 million. They focus on commercial space systems -- called 'commercial-off-the-shelf-technologies' or COTS in defense-speak -- that can be readily adapted for the military's use. Sando's space lab reports directly to Air Force Space Command, part of the tri-service U.S. Space Command. Air and space superiority is the goal of the 21st-century Air Force.
What does that mean?
Controlling air and space -- who flies or orbits, what those craft do while traversing the heavens.
During times of conflict it is "battlespace" that must be controlled -- the ability of American forces to deny access to space by any enemy of the U.S. or its allies.
That includes everyday communications moving through space: voice, e-mail, paging signals, computer data and weather projections, as well as reconnaissance images of enemy forces and basic military communications between forces, fleets and command centers. Space is now a medium through which massive amounts of ordinary data flows.
Even logistics and the planning of surface maneuvers requires "eyes" and "ears" that overlook a future battlefield -- from high orbit. And that will someday include the ability of the Air Force to attack rapidly anywhere in the world at any time.
Such a projection of American power can be enhanced by space-based systems. The battlelabs are culling the best of today's commercial products or new inventions. "This is new technology that could change warfare, or have relevance to the fighting force," said Sando.
But while the equipment might be available today, the applications have a futuristic feel. One project, called SILC {Space Object identification in Living Color) uses color optical lenses to identify different satellites in orbit.
"We know that different satellites give off different colors," Sando explained. By aiming telescopes or optical lenses toward the path of the satellite, military engineers can determine which they are -- and their purposes.
Another project is named STORC (Space Tracking of RV Convoys). Working with the Department of Energy, military planners use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate un-launched ballistic missiles.
As warheads for the U.S. missile fleet are moved from the field to storage areas, GPS tracking receivers are mounted on the cases of the warhead, giving the Air Force a digital "signature" of the warhead's precise location. "This is near real-time," said Sando, meaning that the rocket stages and warheads can always be monitored.
Project BRISC -- for Bomb Impact Assessment Reach-back Involving Space Collectors -- doesn't use any new optics but instead sends back compressed images and signals from missiles in flight in tiny micro-bursts to their tracking and launch operators. The purpose? "It gives us a constant stream of data on the missile's health, its location and I.D. as it heads into its target," said Sando.
Other battlelab projects include space surveillance, environmental monitoring and remote sensing. A major research effort involves the Air Force's desire for what is termed "Space Control" -- literally determining who can access and use space.
What is the nature of that research effort? "Sorry, that area is classified," Sando said.
The results of all these studies are rushed to the field for testing before ultimately finding their place in the military's operations budget.
The Air Force is not alone in studying space warfare. The Army also has its space battlelab. And while the Navy doesn't have one as yet, its Project TENCAP (Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities), along with the Navy Research Lab and Center for Space Technology are looking toward space systems that can be adapted for the Navy's unique needs.
The new emphasis on space is all part of a changing military, new strategies and the evolution of war.
The U.S. military force in the early 21st century that takes advantage of the nation's explosive technological advances to enhance its weapons systems will be shaped by the contingencies of future wars.
