SPACE TRIAD FOR DEEP BATTLES

Lt Gen PJS Pannu

Space is a crucial factor in winning wars, as it has the potential to weaken the enemy’s strategic depth. Technology has made “standoff warfare” a significant method of causing destruction. It is up to the belligerent nation to decide on its policy and choose what to target and what to avoid targeting.

Space is a major war winning factor as it can break the backbone of the adversary in critical areas of Strategic depth. Technology has enabled ‘standoff warfare’ to be a major form of destruction. It is a matter of policy or choice of the belligerent nation on what to target and what to avoid targeting? Gaza targets are targets of choice and so are the targets in Ukraine or Russia. Space Observation allows the higher commanders the luxury of making such choices provided the observation is persistent and of military grade. Ever since SpaceX has extended services to support Ukraine, a space war has erupted not only between Russia and Ukraine, but also between the western and the eastern world. The militaries are shooting targets in depth with accuracy and with real time monitoring. Space triad synchronization is essential for such military space applications. 

The space observation assets are cost prohibitive as they remain in orbit constantly, irrespective of whether a nation is at war or not. These satellites keep taking pictures and continue to provide observation inputs about the adversary. Their military units, installations or infrastructure continue to be scanned, called persistent surveillance; without the adversary knowing that their movements are being picked up. This constant flow of data builds a repository of regular inputs that are used as Intelligence, post analysis. The storyboard at the military command posts gets constantly updated with LLM (Long Language Models) revising information in real-time that gets transposed on the GIS (Geographic Information System), an essential foundation to build the mosaic of the ‘area of interest’. Once the data is available, the choice is available to the military commanders on what to target? when to target? and what punishment to be delivered to a specific target?

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Persistence ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) is a three-stage process. The first stage is the Reconnaissance. This is a preliminary survey to gain information or an exploratory military survey of enemy territory. It allows the commanders first-hand information if there is any presence of the enemy in the area of interest. If there is none, the process is repeated constantly day after day. Lack of presence of military activity is also an input of value, even though there is nothing to analyse. The resolutions of these earth observation satellites at this stage can be more than a meter with larger swaths to cover larger areas. Once the enemy is detected, the commander keeps a close watch over it. That means that the target has to be kept under constant surveillance lest it disappears or gets lost through camouflage, movement or lack of capability of the satellite to recapture it.

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The term ‘tip and cue’ is used for the coordinated utilization of complementary sensor systems to enhance and optimize persistent monitoring processes over large areas. Tip and cue refers to the process of monitoring an area or an object of interest by a sensor and requesting “tipping” another complementary sensor platform to acquire “cueing” an image over the same area. Typically, the process of tip and cue is initiated with an object or location identified with a cost-effective, low resolution (but wide field-of-view) sensor. Once military activity is detected, the observation gets more specific to a narrow area of interest – a point of focus. Repeat re-visits by orbiting satellites are made until the time the object gets identified as a potential or confirmed target. The information collected is then passed to a higher resolution (and potentially more costly) sensor for follow-up investigation and analysis. Certain targets need a closer look, which calls for even better resolution, probably sub-metric and hyperspectral images to pick up targets for decision to engage. A resolution of 50 mm and 30 mm are considered appropriate for military grade intelligence. Similarly, pattern recognition through AI engines is the most sought after technology.  The Military commanders can subject a single/ multiple targets to analysis, so as to grade their importance. Many targets such as communication centres or radar stations emit electronic signatures/ radiations. Such signatures are picked up by Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) sensors.  Depending on the profile of the object/target, specific sensors such as Electro Optical, High-Resolution cameras, Synthetic Aperture Radars and Elint are used. As the numbers of such targets increase and form a pattern, it gives a warning about the type of combat related activity or a probable military build-up. The LLM can quickly analyse this information and convert this into intelligence.  These targets are put on the target list for neutralisation or destruction.  These targets have to be locked for engagement. Multi-sensor satellites and constellations of satellites are becoming increasingly popular.

The next important factor is the ability to find the exact position of the target in the Latitude-Longitude (Lat-Long) cross-section as well as its height. If the target is moving in a particular direction it would be necessary to track the movement and predict the future location of the target through track and follow. It is important to know the angle, direction and distance of the objects or targets. PNT satellites have three attributes Position, Navigation and Time. That would give out the precise location of the target, the direction in which it is moving, in case of mobile column and what time the object was at which place and the prediction of probable location it would or is expected to show up at a particular time. American PNT constellations called the GPS (Global Positioning System) are being used worldwide. Post denial of GPS services to India during the Kargil Conflict in 1999, India developed her own PNT called the NaviC or the IRNSS.  Multi-constellation GNSS ( Global Navigation Satellite Systems) receivers get information from many such systems at the same time for better accuracy.

PNT systems like GNSS are essential assets in all aspects of military operations, from designation of precise target to delivery of conventional/smart munitions, with extreme accuracy under any conditions of target visibility (e.g., night, clouds, smoke, dust). The essence of GPS efficiency is in its ability to send precise signals that are its fundamental feature. The GPS provides a direct and unambiguous correlation between a target point and the guidance of the weapon intended to hit the target precisely. This translates directly into increased kill probability for any particular weapon, and therefore making the war execution more efficient. GPS signals can be vulnerable to spoofing (sending false signals to deceive receivers) and jamming (interfering with signals to disrupt navigation). Military users in any country need to have measures in place to mitigate these risks and ensure the reliability of the system.

The third and the most fundamental use of Military Space is Communication. Whatever objects get located on ground, the pictures, electronic signatures and radiation along with the location has to be plotted on the mosaic or GIS maps. These are transmitted through communication data links using the most suitable spectrum or band. Once the target location is plotted on the screen, a dedicated and uninterrupted link is necessary between the object and the warhead. This is called the seeker-shooter-sensor combination. These links are generally a combination of ground and satellite links.  These links are the basic and most essential fundamental enablers of the PNT,  ISR and the seeker warheads all riding on electronic beams and communication networks. These three need to work in unison as a triad. Due to the contested environment in which battles are fought, these links have to be secure and reliable. In the wartime far too many frequencies shall open up. There are likely to be over one million sensors transmitting frequencies per square Kilometre through terrestrial and non-terrestrial links. This aggregation is best handled through Mosaic warfare that creates a mesh within a Tactical Battle Area (TBA) for distributed decision. The space triad supports not only the deep battles at the strategic level, but also works at  the operational levels as also in the TBA. The IoMT (Internet of Military Things) in a larger conflict zone and IoBT (Internet of Battle Things) in TBA is all about communication, positioning and targeting enabled by the triad. The communication technology and algorithms must ensure compatibility within various emitters, receivers and transceivers. There should not be any conflict in programmes, applications, or frequencies causing any electronic clutter. The industry and R&D organisations must coordinate such norms, standards and protocols. It is extremely important to ensure tech-synchronisation of the triad. The ISC-24 (India Space Congress-24) being organised at SIA-India is expected to address such issues and bring the stakeholders together. The manned and unmanned aerial platforms in aerospace and near space are also the users of triad. The Artillery which has remained confined to tactical battle areas for close support to infantry in analogue battles are now transforming into digitally integrated battles and with longer ranges. Drones are an intrinsic part of artillery battles. Artillery is now emerging as the stakeholder in the military space domain.  As the ranges of guns, missiles and rockets increase and precise targeting has become essential, the use of triad by artillery has become necessary. The Mechanised forces and Infantry have to be brought on the common mosaic. Therefore, each combat arm has specific use cases in the space triad too.

The author is a former Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. He commanded 14 Corps in Ladakh.  He was also the Director General of Infantry. He pioneered the raising of Defence Space Agency, Defence Cyber Agency and Armed Forces Special Forces Division. He is currently Senior advisor to Satcom Industries Association (SIA-India) and FICCI chair for ICT modernization for Defence and He is also a National Cyber Security Scholar for ISAC. He has a doctorate on Indigenization of Defence Industry.



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