Military Satellite Communications
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Thursday, November 9th, 2006A military satellite, per se, is just like any other artificial satellite put into orbit around the Earth by man, except that it is used for military purposes like gathering intelligence, military communications array, or even as a military weapon. Technically speaking, there is nothing inherently military or civilian about a satellite anymore than there is anything military or civilian about jeeps. What differentiates a military satellite from a civilian satellite is more often than not, and probably like all things military, the payload that the satellite carries. However, even that particular differentiation criteria is now all blurred and fuzzy because it is quite possible for satellites put up for civilian use to carry transponders that ought to be only on military satellites.
Future U.S. Military Satellite Communication Systems
Sunday, October 29th, 2006Glen Elfers and Stephen B. Miller
The current military satellite communications network represents decades-old technology. To meet the heightened demands of national security in the coming years, newer and more powerful systems are being developed.
Advances in information technology are fundamentally changing the way military conflicts are resolved. The ability to transmit detailed information quickly and reliably to and from all parts of the globe will help streamline military command and control and ensure information superiority, enabling faster deployment of highly mobile forces capable of adapting quickly to changing conditions in the field. Satellite communications play a pivotal role in providing the interoperable, robust, “network-centric” communications needed for future operations.
A History of U.S. Military Satellite Communication Systems
Sunday, October 29th, 2006The following article is brought to you from http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/index.html. A website of the Aerospace Corporation Donald H. Martin
Twenty-five hundred years ago the Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” But how are U.S. soldiers, operating covertly in unfamiliar and hostile territory, to know where their allies are, where their enemies are, and what each is doing? How are they to receive commands and report status? The answer is satellite communications.
Satellite communication has been a vital part of the United States military throughout the space age, beginning in 1946, when the Army achieved radar contact with the moon. In 1954, the Navy began communications experiments using the moon as a reflector, and by 1959, it had established an operational communication link between Hawaii and Washington, D.C.