Dimming of Joint Vision 2020: A Concern That the Lack of Military Satellite Communications Will Impede the Future Force

摘要

Given the lack of political will to reverse the drawdowns of the military force structure of the 1990s, our National Military Strategy will continue to emphasize a strategy based on the ability to project forces quickly and as lightly as possible. Joint Vision 2020 (JV2020) articulates that in future warfare 'information superiority' is a fundamental enabled to successful operations. To achieve information superiority, it will be crucial that the deployed warfighter has extensive communications connectivity on demand to move information when and where it is needed. The Global Information Grid (GIG) is a concept envisioned as a global, network-centric, end-to- end set of information systems where communications are fully integrated with computing, applications, and weapons systems. The GIG's requirement for communications infrastructure will increase as JV2020 becomes reality. Many senior leaders, joint architects, and planners understand the benefits that information based systems and weapons bring to a force. As processors and applications become more sophisticated, designers often overlook that the need to communicate data among geographically dispersed users is increasing beyond projected capabilities. Historically there has been a mismatch between satellite communications (SATOOM) capabilities and operational requirements. To move from yet to be realized legacy SATOOM systems of the next ten years to advanced programs of the 201 2010s requires an enormous amount of organizational discipline and programmatic truthfulness. Using SATOOM as the primary means for network connectivity to operationally deployed forces is essential for the JV2020 force. Depending upon commercial communications systems to augment military capabilities is likely to leave warfighters short of needed connectivity and lacking in information superiority.