Preparing To Fight In A Negated Space Environment
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GPS an important-technology to US troops ( Photo by thebalance . com )
Imagine fighting a war with little or no Position Navigation Timing ( PNT ), very little over the horizon communications , and much less responsive Strategic Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance ( ISR ). Our soldiers on the ground would need to navigate with a map and compass , they would have difficulty timing radios for secure communications , and be unable to drop precision munitions on targets . The lower echelon units would be unable to communicate to their higher headquarters unless they were equipped with High-Frequency ( HF ) radios which would be voice only . Battlefield tracking could be almost non-existent , and higher headquarters would be unable to obtain Strategic ISR quick enough to support the planning process . For this very reason leaders at all levels should be training their units to fight in a negated space environment . Negation includes denying , disrupting , degrading , deceiving , or destroying an asset . The next NATO engagement with a near peer will likely be fought , at least initially , in both space and cyberspace . Space is a key enabler for all domains , with land forces having more users than any other domain . We often take this for granted , but almost every soldier uses Satellite Communications ( SATCOM ), Global Positioning System ( GPS ), and receives intelligence obtained from space assets . Space is less rigorously structured with laws , both formal and informal , than land , sea or air .
One can argue that a worldwide precedent of freedom of maneuver in space was set on October 4 , 1957 when the Soviet Union ’ s Sputnik I orbited over the United States ( US ) at the height of the Cold War 1 . The US could not have successfully engaged and destroyed the satellite during the time and did not even contest the Soviet Union for overflight of US territory . This essentially allowed the space domain to become a free maneuver area for all nations and eventually commercial users . Since that time , everyone has been sharing space and no one has intentionally destroyed the satellites of their enemies . If NATO were to become engaged with Russia , then the space domain could change significantly .
A Soldier From The Britsh Army ’ s 250th Gurkha Signal Squadron Talks on a HF Radio
Space , by nature , has strategic implications . Due to orbital mechanics , a satellite is not confined to one region , with the exception of geosynchronous and geostationary orbits , which are commonly used by SATCOM systems . Any destruction of a satellite within the space domain has immediate strategic repercussions . Therefore , the US and NATO are attempting to deter any hostile actions in space . In the simplest form , we have demonstrated that the alli-
8 LAND POWER