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Space team providing commanders view of MC02 battle

by Debra Valine

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, Aug. 9, 2002) - From an area barely larger than the back end of a long-bed pickup truck, members of Army Space Support Team 5 are providing space-based capabilities that enhance commanders' views of the Millennium Challenge 2002 battlefield at the National Training Center.

The group of 11 civilians and 14 soldiers from Army Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., are deployed to Fort Bragg for MC02. While only a small number of people compared to the 13,500 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines participating in the three-week-long joint training experiment, the team is making a contribution through the use of leading-edge technology.

The Space Support Element is supporting the Army Forces headquarters element - the XVIII Airborne Corps' 82nd Airborne Division - as part of the Army Transformation Experiment 02, the Army's contribution to Millennium Challenge. The capabilities of the SSE allow warfighters access to space planning tools and enhanced commercial satellite imagery.

"The SSE is a one-stop shopping source for space-based capabilities," said Brig. Gen. Richard V. Geraci, the Army Space deputy commanding general. "MC02 is the driver for getting our next seven years worth of work. Success will be determined by how well the SSE concept is received. The existence of the SSE mitigates risk."

While most of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command's involvement is at Fort Bragg, support is also being provided at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nev., where the Future Operations Capability/Tactical Operations Center is located. The Army Space Program Office is also providing simulation support at the joint level to all services from the Navy's Fleet Center Pacific in San Diego, Calif.

SMDC objectives for the exercise include highlighting the criticality of space and missile defense in Rapid Decisive Operations and Army Transformation, as well as continuing along the path to normalizing space, command officials said. They said a third objective is identifying space and missile defense Doctrine, Training, Leadership, Organization, Materiel and Soldiers solutions for the objective force.

"We're excited to have the opportunity to demonstrate the importance of Army Space support in a joint experiment," said Lt. Col. Brad Baehr, officer in charge of the Space Support Element. Baehr is the senior Functional Area 40 officer for Millennium Challenge 02. "Army Space, the Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab and Force Development Integration Center have formed a strong team of soldiers and civilians coupled with leading-edge technology and operational concepts to support the SMDC MC02 initiatives."

"These initiatives will lay the groundwork for space operations in the future," said Kurt Reitinger, the Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab experiment manager. "The experiments we are conducting here are key to the next several years of development. It's great that SMDC can play such an important role."

Overall, four of the 12 Army initiatives are being sponsored by SMDC. The Tactical Space Initiative, which includes the Broadcast Remote Imagery Technology Experiment, known as BRITE, and the Embedded National Tactical Receiver are two. TacSpace is an umbrella initiative that includes numerous concepts and initiatives. The centerpiece of TacSpace is the Space Support Element, which includes a six-soldier team of Space Operations soldiers. This team, which is designed to be an integral part of the future division staff, officials said, provides key input to the development of the supported unit's plan. The team uses the Space Support Element Toolset, which is a collection of hardware systems and software applications, to accomplish this mission.

Other initiatives include the Spectral Information Initiative which provides mobile, commercial, high-resolution satellite imagery; indirect field tasking of sensors; direct data downlink; and advanced processing of spectral data to create improved battlespace visualization for tactical users. This initiative will evaluate Eagle Vision II, Mobile Processing/Exploitation/Dissemination, or MoPED platforms, and the Spectral Operations Resource Center. The Army Space Program Office is sponsoring the National Imagery Client and Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities, Multiple Unified Simulation Environment, or TENCAP MUSE initiatives.

What the SSE operators do is not "sexy" as far as Army operations go. It's not as glamorous as an airborne drop or a live-fire event, but it's just as important to the success of the mission, said Spc. Sabrina Bannister, the team's network administrator.

"We are integrating new and emerging technology into the tactical environment, such as wireless Internet connectivity," said Bannister, a member of the 1st Space Battalion. "I am responsible for ensuring voice, data and fax communications, as well as maintaining the computer hardware and software." Bannister also produces global positioning system accuracy charts and over-fly reports from satellite imagery.

Sgt. Brandi Harris, a topographic analyst for the Spectral Operations Resource Center makes maps of the battlefield from raw images she pulls down from satellites.

"We take a high-resolution image from the satellite and then draw in annotations that will help the decision-makers," Harris said. "For this exercise, we took an image of the drop zone at the NTC and drew in the flight path. We included elevation and other information that showed the warfighters in the field what they needed to know about the area." Harris is assigned to HHC, Army Space Command. The SORC supports the G-3.

Behind the scenes, 1st Lt. Angela Johnson, the team's communications officer and co-battle captain, verifies that the external networks are working.

"The first thing I do is check all the phones," Johnson said. "Then I check with G-6 to see if there are any problems with their system that might affect us. We check e-mail to see if we are getting operational updates.

"The team provides warfighters with space-based capabilities such as near real-time imagery, satellite constellation health and notional space control," Johnson said.

"We can add value to just about every staff element because they can use the information we provide to make better decisions," Johnson said.

"All the products of space - navigation, communication, warning and intelligence - will be key products for the U.S. Army objective force, which will be a much lighter and more lethal force," said SMDC Commanding General Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Cosumano Jr. "And for it to accomplish this mission, it must be able to see first, understand first, and then finish decisively. And Space will enable that force to do that."