How space-based assets are gaining relevance in modern warfare

Lt Gen PJS Pannu

Technologies provided by Elon Musk’s Starlink have proved to be a critical asset for Ukraine in its war against Russia

One often hears that militaries need ‘Launch on Demand’ (LoD) capability where certain space assets, comprising satellites and allied systems, would give them immediate space support in wars. Elon Musk did not take much time to supply ground terminals to soldiers in Ukraine to access the space services of Starlink satellites. However, these are considered immediate space support and not launch-on-demand.

The ability of a nation to place satellites of a specific payload into orbit as and when required, generally at short notice, is often referred to as launch-on-demand. This concept largely remains elusive; however, it continues to gather the attention of military planners. Measures of LoD capability should relate to the objective of the transportation capability to place the payloads into orbit as and when required. LoD capability must be defined in terms of the assessed capacity desired by a certain time to place a payload into orbit for a specific purpose.

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LoD capabilities are built for operational exigencies. As nations’ dependency on space increases, ‘space blackouts’ cannot be accepted, especially during periods of national emergencies such as wars and natural calamities. Nations always have to keep reserves for dire contingencies, and the inventory required to recreate or beef up space capacity would include rockets, satellites, launch platforms, and ground segments. There are specific situations or contingencies that would require LoD readiness:

• Building the ability to recover from adversarial action
• Creating additional Space Capabilities in wartime
• Launching a satellite in case of a launch failure
• Keeping up with the steady-state demand for placing satellites into orbit. This has been referred to as operability and resiliency
• The ability to respond to the requirement to launch a satellite when the need arises unexpectedly, either because of an unexpected on-orbit satellite failure that requires replacement or the sudden recognition of an unanticipated requirement
• Replacing satellites immediately due to a space accident, collusion, or calamity like solar storms

The space business is an expensive business. Therefore, to cater for reserve satellites and ‘ready to launch’ infrastructure with ITU filings in place makes the process a bit complex and expensive. Imagine a nation having a warehouse with an assortment of satellites kept in warehouses, waiting to be demanded by the stakeholders to be launched at short notice. The questions are: how many satellites and in what categories do they have to be kept ready? What should be legislated as the shelf life and the right storage conditions necessary to keep these satellites at a high level of serviceability and technical relevance? Who shall pay for the satellite to maintain such a varied launch inventory?

The most important factor is the state of readiness and technological graph that inventory would be in at the stipulated time and place of launch. As the above questions require clear answers, the LoD concept largely continues to be an elusive and unfulfilled goal.

This is the reason why foreign service providers like Imagesat, Maxar, Starlink, OneWeb and many trusted players have developed space assets that can provide ‘service on demand’ at short notice to fulfil intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and communication needs. The client’s military has to factor in pre-approved budgets for these space acquisitions in emergency situations. However, it is always preferable to have these service providers open up nominal beams ahead of time and enhance them during operational exigencies.

On May 22, Elon Musk deployed the Starlink-enabled Ukrainian internet, which was the key component of a successful new artillery fire coordination system. Starlink kits allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to continue operating theatre command centres. These kits were vital and needed as Russia focused on attacking Ukrainian communication infrastructure. The same month, the company provided voice connections for a Ukrainian special operations brigade. Starlink was also used to connect the Ukrainian military to the US Joint Special Operations Command and to enable the connection between army commanders and spotters on the roofs of buildings miles away.

Lt Gen (Dr) PJS Pannu is a former Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. He is a PhD in Management with the subject ‘Indigenization of Defence Industry’. He initiated the raising of Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and Armed Forces Special Forces Division. He is on the board of ‘Valley of words’, heading the Military History and Strategy Vertical. He is a distinguished fellow of USI. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.