Space
And The MAGTF Commander
CSC
1993
SUBJECT
AREA - Strategic Issues
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Space and the MAGTF Commander
Author:
Major James A. Haig, United States Marine Corps
Thesis:
The Marine Corps must understand the capabilities of space based systems and
develop
the knowledge and procedures necessary to exploit the tremendous benefits these
systems
offer the MAGTF commander.
Background: ...From The Sea describes the way the Navy
and Marine Corps will
operate
in the future. The emphasis will be on the littoral areas of the world and on
regional
vice global conflicts. Many times these services will be called upon to react
to a
crisis
situation that will not permit long, detailed planning. The process of
information
gathering
required to support these operations must become rapid. Space platforms offer
responsive
assets to help the MAGTF commander in the areas of weather, surveillance,
targeting,
mission rehearsal, battle damage assessment, navigation, and communications.
Each
of these systems offers the MAGTF commander advantages he may employ to the
MAGTF's
advantage. These systems may be classified as "force enhancement"
assets. To
utilize
these systems, the Marine Corps must develop the knowledge of the capabilities
and
understand how to access these space based systems.
Recommendation:
The Marine Corps should understand space based systems
capabilities
and utilize these assets for force enhancement. MAGTF commanders must
understand
the procedures necessary to receive the wealth of information available from
space
based systems.
SPACE AND THE MAGTF
COMMANDER
OUTLINE
Thesis:
The Marine Corps must understand the capabilities of space based systems and
the
advantages these systems offer the MAGTF commander. Space based systems will
become
critical with the emphasis on littoral warfare and quick reaction to crisis
situations
These
systems are ideal for the rapid receipt and dissemination of informntion critical
to
military
operations.
I.
Crisis response
a. The mission
b. The shortfalls in information
c. ...From The Sea
II.
Space systems capabilities
a. Communications
b. Navigation
c. Surveillance
d. Indications and Warnings
e. Weather
f. Fire support coordination
III. Space control
a. Enemy exploitation
b. Protection
IV. System improvements
V. Mission accomplishment
SPACE AND THE MAGTF
COMMANDER
by Major James A.
Haig, United States Marine Corps
Colonel Smith, Commanding Officer of
the 30th MEU from Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina,
was awakened by his Operations Duty Officer (ODO) at 0330, 15 March 1995.
The
Amphibious Task Force, of which the 30th MEU was a part, received a message
directing
them to proceed to a designated point off the coast of Gabot. Gabat, located on
the
southeastern coast of Africa, was a newly formed democracy. As such, Gabot was
receiving
support, both political and economic, from the United States.
Colonel Smith discerned from his excited
ODO that Zanian forces opposing the
democratically
elected government of Gabot were closing on the capital city of Mumbat.
These
forces, from the neigbboring country of Zan, had overrun border outposts of
Gabotian
soldiers and were expected to reach the capital within two weeks. The
Government
of Gabot requested assistance from the United Nations and received an
ambiguous
reply that did not promise timely assistance. The government then requested
assistance
from their new found friend, the United States. The President of the United
States
responded by ordering the ATF to the area to demonstrate support to the
Gobatian
government.
This deployment also served to position forces to facilitate transition to
combat
operations in support of Gabot should the President so decide.
The ATF received an Initiating Directive
on 18 March that assigned the 30th MEU
three
missions. These were to:
Assist the Government of Gabot in
expelling Zanian forces from Gabot and in
restoring the internationally recognized
borders of Gabot.
Conduct an evacuation of all non-essential Americans in the US
Embassy in Gabot.
Protect American lives and property in
Gabot.
The immediate problem facing Colonel
Smith was the paucity of information
concerning
Gabot. The country was located in a part of the world the United States had
paid
little attention to until very recently. Gabot had formerly been ruled by a
dictator and
the
United States had not established any contact with this former regime. This
situation
did
not permit the United States to collect information on the area useful for
future
military
operations. Information on the people, weather, terrain, and general make-up of
the
country was not readily available to Colonel Smith. His requirements for
information
and
intelligence far outweighed his ability to satisfy them.
The hypothetical situation described
above is in keeping with the types of
operations
the Navy and Marine Corps expect to encounter now and in the future.
...From
the Sea, a Navy and Marine Corps White Paper, describes the services vision of
where
Navy and Marine Corps operations will focus in the future. The White Paper
describes
the strategy the Navy and Marine Corps will employ to support the National
Security
Strategy. It also describes how the services will deal with the uncertainty the
United
States faces in this new world of reduced global and increased regional
threats.
The
four pillars of this new strategy are: strategic deterrence and defense,
forward
presence,
crisis response, and reconstitution. The 30th MEU featured above was
participating
in this strategy by way of their forward presence and crisis response.
While the Navy and Marine Corps are
ideally suited to operate in this new strategic
environment,
the demands for information, intelligence, and communications flexibility
dramatically
increase. The prospect of conducting combat operations on short notice, in
an
unfamiliar country, and with little on-hand intelligence is a daunting one at
best. Space
based
systems and platforms offer a solution to many, if not all, of the problems
that can
arise
from a situation such as this. The Marine Corps must understand the
capabilities of
space
based systems and develop the knowledge and procedures necessary to exploit the
tremendous
benefits these systems offer the MAGTF commander. This expertise is an
absolute
requirement for any Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) commander who
will
be operating in support of the National Security Strategy.
...From the Sea, in stressing the
importance of space, states, "Our surveillance
efforts
will continue to emphasize exploitation of space and electronic warfare systems
to
provide
commanders with immediate information."
It goes on to say, "Particular
emphasis
will be placed on the ability to collect intelligence through covert
surveillance
early
in crisis." (6:8, 9) The Navy and Marine Corps clearly understand the
implications of
space
and the advantages its use offers. Space systems already exist to support
operations
at
the three levels of war; strategic, operational, and tactical. The Naval
services are
committed
to exploiting these assets to their, and the country's, benefit.
Space based systems, both military and
civilian, can provide a plethora of services
to
the military. These include: communications, navigation, indications and
warnings (I
&W),
near real time weather updates, mission rehearsal, target selection, battle
damage
assessment
(BDA), coordination of forces, and fire support coordination. The services
most
often associated with military use, and most valuable in the Gabot scenerio,
are in the
areas
of communications, navigation (to include mapping), surveillance, I & W,
weather
updates,
and target selection.
Although Desert Shield and Desert Storm
offer the most recent and visible
example
of how space assets support military operations, other examples are:
The Libyan raid in 1986
Operation Earnest Will (Persian Gulf) in
1988
Operation Just Cause (Panama) in 1989
These
operations allowed the military to evaluate space systems in limited operations
and
provided
the opportunity to improve them where necessary.
The most immediate benefit of space
based systems felt by the commander is in the
area
of communications. The Defense Satellite Communications System provides
worldwide
communications coverage for military use. This allows a MAGTF commander
to
communicate anywhere he needs to to fill his informational requirements.
However,
the
use of satellite communications (SATCOM) depends on priorities. A problem
identified
during Desert Shield/Storm was the lack of raw capacity to meet the
communications
requirement at all levels. (8:22) Over 90% of the communications
received
in Saudi Arabia was through satellite communications. The established
priorities
allowed
the higher headquarters the use of SATCOM, but the advantages of SATCOM
were
not felt by tactical units. What resulted was the ability to communicate
through
SATCOM
at the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) level and above with the
communications
below that level not able to enjoy the advantages of SATCOM.
A possible solution lies in the Military
Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR 2)
communications
satellite. It has approximately 100 times the capacity as present systems
and
could be accessed by tactical units. The largest improvement to this system is
the
automated
switchboard and its ability to service mobile forces. (4:63) This system would
give
commanders at all levels access to reliable communications virtually anywhere
in the
world.
The MILSTAR 2 is capable of data transmission as well as voice communications.
Although all may be rosy on the
technological front, the same is not true on the
budget
side. When, on 2 Feb 93, Secretary of Defense Lees Aspin directed the Air Force
to
cut 2.8 billion dollars from their 1994 budget, they chose the MILSTAR project
to ax.
The
Air Force made this decision in part because they do not plan extensive use of
MILSTAR
2. This decision brought an immediate response from both the Army and
Navy.
These services planned extensive use of the MISTAR 2 system in present and
future
operations. While a final decision has not been reached, this underscores the
problems
inherent when one service, the Air Force, decides what space systems to buy or
not
to buy. (7:3,20)
Space systems have dramatically improved
the ability of the military to navigate
accurately
on land, at sea, and in the air. Desert Shield and Desert Storm saw a
tremendous
increase in the use of this space based technology. Virtually every size unit
involved
in the operations used the Global Positioning System (GPS) either directly or
indirectly.
The GPS system is a constellation of satellites that provide precise navigation,
positioning,
and timing signals to a passive receiver. Although most military personnel are
able
navigators, the featureless desert presented problems in navigation that were
difficult
to
overcome without assistance. The GPS system was relatively new at the time of
Desert
Shield
and the distribution of receivers was limited. Once the importance and value of
the
system
were recognized, receivers were purchased (commercial as well as military
variants)
and widely distributed. GPS was, in the words of Major General Binford Peay,
Commanding
General 101st Airborne Division, "the most popular new piece of equipment
in
the desert." (5:50,51)
The importance of GPS cannot be
overemphasized. The system immediately
places
each of the users on common survey and on a common time. It can tell a unit
where
it is down to an accuracy of a few meters. GPS can be used to position
artillery,
mortars,
unit boundaries, minefields, and patrols. It aided logistics units in
delivering
supplies,
ammunition, fuel, and water to frontline units. Receivers onboard aircraft gave
pilots
precise locations for targets and enemy anti-aircraft positions. GPS vastly
increased
the
ability of units to navigate both in the daytime and at night. During Desert
Storm the
GPS
changed from a "nice to have" to a "must have" capability.
Included under the navigation umbrella
of space based capability is the ability of
multispectral
imagery satellites to prepare or update maps. These satellites are able to
image
specific areas of the earth and then transmit those images to ground stations.
Those
images
can then be used to update maps, analyze landing zones or possible amphibious
landing
sites, but also for mission rehearsal. During Desert Storm, many pilots rehearsed
their
missions on computers using images provided by the multispectral imagery
satellites.
The
pilots were thus able to "fly" their missions on computers that
showed what the
terrain
looked like going to and from the intended target area. (5:52)
The possible uses for the GPS system are
still undergoing development. At the
tactical
level, the Field Artillery is experimenting with GPS systems that will greatly
affect
their
ability to deliver accurate and timely fire support. These systems include the
Gun
Laying
Positioning System (GLPS), the Azimuth Determining System (ADS), and the
GPS
fuze.
The GLPS will determine azimuth,
deflection angle, position, and elevation for all
howitzers
with an external panoramic sight. This system could eliminate the requirement
for
survey support within the artillery battalion. The ADS will utilize the GPS
constellation
to provide a check for the azimuth determining system onboard the Multiple
Launch
Rocket System (MLRS). The GPS fuze will use GPS information to accurately
track
trajectory positions and flight path of a projectile. This information is
transmitted
back
to the firing unit to allow for accurate adjustment of rounds onto a target.
(1:26,27)
The Air Force is experimenting with the
use of GPS systems to reduce the cost,
and
increase the accuracy, of smart bombs. The Air Force is using relatively low
cost
GPS
receivers to update and control small computers in the bombs that enables the
bombs
to
strike within 16 meters of the intended target. Once the GPS system is
improved,
accuracy
could increase to within three meters of the intended impact point. While it
may
seem
wasteful to attach a GPS receiver to a bomb, the TV cameras, infra-red
detectors,
and
high-accuracy millimeter-wave radar they would replace are many times more
costly.
The
Army has shown interest in using this technology in their Army Tactical Missile
System
(ATACMS). (9:1,29)
Surveillance is an area of space
capabilities that is of particular interest to military
planners
and operators. In the Gabot scenario, the products provided by this system
would
greatly assist the MAGTF commander in planning his operations. The photos from
these
platforms are good enough to allow detailed military planning. Some of the
satellites
used for surveillance are civilian and not military use only. Examples of what
they
are capable of can be found in magazines like National Geographic on a routine
basis.
The exact capabilities and operations of the military satellites are
classified. This
space
based system allows the commander to conduct his preparation of the battlefield
with
near real time data regardless of his location. As witnessed by the public
during
Desert
Storm, this system can also be utilized to conduct target planning and damage
assessment.
The ability of space based systems to
provide indications and warning (I & W) was
thoroughly
demonstrated during Desert Storm. The most visible example of this capability
was
the ability of the Defense Support Program missile-warning satellite to detect
and
track
the exhaust heat generated by ballistic missiles. While this capability existed
in Saudi
Arabia
in August 1990, it took several months for to refine procedures which
transmitted
the
launch information to Patriot missile batteries that destroyed the ballistic
missiles.
(5:50)
The Patriot missile batteries were the final recipients of launch information.
This
gave
them the time necessary to prepare and orient their systems to intercept the Iraqis
Scud
missiles. This capability also provided detection of Scud launch sites and
their
ultimate
attack by coalition forces.
In military operations success is
greatly dependent on weather. The ability to
predict
weather in advance has depended a great deal on "guess-work" in the
past. Space
based
weather satellites have taken much of the guess-work out of the weather
prediction
business.
The military uses data from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)
satellites
as well as civil weather satellites to provide weather informtion to the
military.
(5:51)
During Desert Storm, data from these systems was used to plan and execute
operations.
Information from these weather satellites was also used to determine precise
wind
direction. This information would have been used to predict the spread of
chemical
agents
had Iraq employed them. The ability to accurately predict weather is a
tremendous
advantage
to military planners. No other asset is as precise and accurate in this area as
the
weather
satellites of the DMSP and the civil assets available to the military.
As with space based communications, the
ability of tactical units to directly receive
weather
information is an issue. The receiving stations for weather data are large and
cumbersome
and suited to larger, less mobile units. Hence, the user at the tactical unit
does
not always receive timely information. To address this inequity, smaller,
mobile
receiving
stations are being developed for use by tactical units. This would give the
"trigger
pullers" instant access to valuable weather information that could have an
adverse
impact
on combat plans. (3:24)
A photograph of the "road to
ruin" serves to demonstrate the value of space
systems
in the targeting process. Space systems assisted in discovering the retreat of
Iraqi
forces
from Kuwait City by way of this road. Once the retreat was discovered, planners
were
able to quickly assign assets to attack this target rich environment. Space
assets
were
utilized to locate targets by way of photographs, infra-red scanners, and rear
to
name
a few. Not only do these space systems provide accurate location, they do it
quickly
and
in a format usable to planners.
Space systems are also valuable in the
fire support coordination arena. One of the
most
useful tools is the GPS. By keeping accurate locations on all of a MAGTF's
elements,
the chance of delivering ordnance on friendly troops greatly diminishes. Troops
on
the ground, at sea, and in the air are able to accurately track friendly units
and their
positions.
Although the incidents of fratricide during Desert Storm might seem to
discount
this capability, adherence to proper procedures might have keep those incidents
from
happening.
The capabilities of space based systems
to assist the MAGTF commander are
numerous.
However, these systems are vulnerable to interference from hostile forces.
During
Desert Shield and Storm the coalition enjoyed the advantage of fighting a
country
unable
to influence space platforms. In fact, the ability of the Iraqi military to
exploit
space
systems was negligible. If we face an opponent in the future who has space
capabilities,
the story could be much different from the one that unfolded from August
1990
to February 1991.
Navy and Marine tactics seek to exploit
advantages of over the horizon launches
during
amphibious assaults. The reason for this type of launch is to achieve tactical
surprise.
The assault force then gains and, hopefully, maintains the initiative and can
defeat
the enemy. That is a viable plan for fighting an enemy who has no access to
space
based
products. The problem is those military and civilian "spies in the
sky" satellites can
produce
photographs that are sold to the highest bidder. Infra-red sensors provide
information
that is likewise for sale. This would seem to limit the value of the over the
horizon
concept as presently outlined. (2:140) The point is, countries other than the
United
States are capable of orbiting space platforms as capable as the systems we now
use.
These concerns mean that we must
actively seek to protect our space platforms
and
destroy, or degrade, our opponents. Protection of our assets is of great
concern.
This
aspect of space operations is commonly called "space control." One
aspect of the
Strategic
Defense Initiative was to develop weapons to destroy opposing force's space
platforms.
The United States is not alone in attempting to develop these types of
weapons.
The use of space based systems has become so important and integrated into
military
operations that the United States must control space if we are to continue to
exploit
it. Protection of our space based systems and destruction of an enemy's space
systems
must become a priority. If not, we will find ourselves in a sorry state should
we
fight
an enemy with the capability to interfere with our space assets.
In the opening scenario, Colonel Smith
seemed to be in a bind regarding
information,
intelligence, mapping, and communications. Assuming that Zan is unable to
influence
the Colonel's ability to access information gained through space based assets,
his
ability
to satisfy his requirement for information is greatly increased with space
based
systems.
Using these systems, the MAGTF can communicate, navigate, receive near real
time
weather updates, map areas of concern, select targets, and rehearse missions
without
ever
leaving MAGTF shipping. These capabilities exist today and are in use worldwide
by
United
States military forces.
While the capabilities of space based
platforms are impressive, improvements need
to
be made. Communications satellites are unable to handle sufficient quantities
of nets to
support
operators at the tactical level. A responsive launch system to replace
destroyed or
broken
satellites does not exist. The United States needs a space based wide area
surveillance
system to better track naval and air movements by potential adversaries.
Systems
to protect United States space assets and destroy enemy space systems must be
developed
if we are to maintain control of the "high ground," space.
Space based systems, and the
technologies they employ, offer a tremendous
advantage
to the commander who understands and can employ their capabilities. Our
Colonel
Smith was able to employ the advantages these space systems provide because he
had
the training and knowledge required to gain access to them. He made the
employment
of these assets a part of his units training program and when the time came to
use
them for real, the 30th MEU was ready. The Marine Corps must dedicate the time,
people,
and training to utilize the benefits space technology offers in combat
operations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Baily, Dale C. "Space Exploitation Demonstration Program." Field Artillery
October 1992: 26,27.
2.
Collins, John M. Military Space Forces. Washington D. C.: PERGAMON-
BRASSEY'S International Defense
Publishers, Inc. 1989: 140.
3.
Defense 92 October/November. Based on excerpt of the 1992 "Joint Military
Net
Assessment."
4.
Dornhiem, Michael A. "Milstar 2 Brings New Program Role." Aviation
Week and
Space Technology November 16, 1992: 63.
5.
Dougherty, VADM William A. "Storm from Space." Proceedings August
1992:
50-52.
6.
...From The Sea Navy and Marine Corps White Paper 1992.
7.
Kiernan, Vincent and Neil Munro. "Services Battle Over Milstar's
Fate." Space
News February 15-21 1993: 3,20.
8.
McPeak, General Merril. "Newsmaker Forum." Space News February 15-21
1993: 22.
9.
Munro, Neil. "GPS Drops Cost, Boosts Accuracy of Smart Bombs."
Defense News
March 22-28 1993:1,29.
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