Satellites are the military communicator's easy button. As long as the operating environment is permissive, communications planners can easily establish high bandwidth links that satisfy the demands of data-hungry commanders and their staffs. But this go-to solution is a hollow one, as any adversary that can contest the electromagnetic spectrum or the space domain can knock satellite communications out of the fight. Jamming, spoofing and other means of electronic warfare can render satellites ineffective, while missiles and lasers can destroy satellites from the Earth or from space. In any potential conflict with a serious competitor, military planners must assume that satellite communications will be severely degraded or completely denied at the outset-and possibly throughout the duration. Consequently, communicators must be trained and proficient in establishing alternative links by which commanders can exert command and control of their combat forces. While I've previously written on the importance of high frequency communications in this regard, communicators can also uniquely replicate the effects of satellite communications if they look to the past and once again use the Earth's only organic satellite, the moon. By once again becoming skilled in Earth-moon-Earth (EME) or so-called moon bounce techniques, military communicators can provide their commanders with the only satellite link that can't be shot out of the sky.
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