 |
|
 |
Copyright 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. www.mcgraw-hill.com
All rights reserved
http://www.aviationnow.com
Aviation Week & Space Technology
April 28, 2003
SECTION: WAR IN IRAQ; Vol. 158, No. 17; Pg. 50
LENGTH: 974 words
HEADLINE: Milstar Pivotal To War
BYLINE: Craig Covault
DATELINE: Cape Canaveral
HIGHLIGHT: Military satcom system has been critical for Global Hawk surveillance and
fostered 'network-centric' ops
BODY:
The U.S. Air Force's Milstar advanced military communications satellite
system has been instrumental in providing Global Hawk command-and-control
operations over Iraq, including use of the large UAV during the rescue of
Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, Air Force sources said.
Milstar was also used for the rapid targeting of Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles involved in Iraqi strikes and clandestine communications with Special Operations Forces.
Employment of Milstar highlights the criticality of military space system involvement in the war, and the pivotal role of spacecraft in new "network-centric" operations. During the war in Iraq, "for the first time in Air Force history, space has become an equal partner with air-breathing" aircraft, Air Force Secretary James G. Roche told the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
Milstar 5, parked over the Indian Ocean in geosynchronous orbit, has been the primary satellite providing the specialized encrypted anti-jam communications for Iraqi war operations.
THIS SINGLE 5-TON, 51 X 116-ft. spacecraft is just one of more than four dozen Air Force, Navy and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellites directly supporting operations in the Iraqi theater, said USAF Lt. Gen. Michael Moseley, the air component commander for the war. "We've got in excess of 50 satellites that we're working as part of my quiver in air and space applications.
"The satellites have been just unbelievably capable -- not just the Global Positioning System -- but all of the others, in being able to support conventional ground forces, the naval forces, special operations and the air forces," he said.
The Milstar constellation was bolstered Apr. 8 with the launch of a Titan IVB carrying the program's fifth and final operational spacecraft. The mission was led by the USAF 45th Space Wing's 3rd Space Launch Sqdn.
The new 10,000-lb. spacecraft cost $ 800 million, while its Titan IV/Centaur cost $ 468 million, for a total mission cost of roughly $ 1.26 billion. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the launcher and satellite, but both Boeing and Northrop Grumman are responsible for the communications payloads on the Milstar.
This final spacecraft is designated Milstar 6, although it's the fifth to be launched successfully. An earlier Milstar was lost four years ago owing to software errors in the Centaur guidance system, but each spacecraft retained its original tail numbers.
The new satellite will be placed over the equator in a western U.S. slot that will bridge space links with Milstar 4, to be moved farther west over the Pacific, and Milstar 5 that's serving the Iraqi and Afghan theaters.
The space-to-space relay capability has allowed Milstar 5 to route critical Iraq war communications and imagery eastward to Milstar 4 in its current slot, which then beams the information down to a U.S. ground station.
Critical intelligence from the U.S., such as NRO and CIA data, is routed from the U.S. back to the theater in the same manner. The system's space-to-space relay capability avoids the need to bounce this secret communications traffic through multiple ground stations.
In addition to operations involving Global Hawk surveillance and Special Forces missions, the Marine Expeditionary Forces in Iraq have been exploiting Milstar's secure anti-jam communications capabilities for tactical ground operations, said Christine M. Anderson, program director of the Military Satellite Communications Joint Program Office in Los Angeles.
The Army's 4th Infantry Div., moving northward from southern Iraq, also is heavily equipped with Milstar terminals, sources said.
The Air Force said Global Hawk pilots based south of Iraq have used the Milstar 5 spacecraft to route piloting commands to the large UAVs. On Apr. 1, Milstar 5 was used to pilot a Global Hawk over Nasiriyah to provide imagery of the area around the hospital where Lynch was being held captive (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 29).
Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft also helped route communications for the combined Army Ranger and Navy Seal raid that freed Lynch. It's also likely that Milstar 5 was used to relay piloting commands for Global Hawk operations involved in monitoring the Apr. 7 B-1B strike directed against Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders.
Overall, "there are more than 1,000 interoperable Milstar terminals on ships, aircraft and ground vehicles -- many of them operating in Iraq," Anderson said.
There are two types of Milstar terminals: Rockwell Collins Scamp 40-lb. terminals that use about a 1.5-ft.-dia. dish capable of supporting four simultaneous 2,400-bps. voice or data channels, and larger Raytheon "Smart-T" terminals involving about a 4-ft. dish mounted on Humvees and capable of providing much higher data rates. Marine units operating in Iraq are supported by 12 of the Humvee Smart-T terminals, while the Army's 4th Infantry Div. is bringing in an additional 12 Smart-T mobile terminals. Special Forces, especially in northern Iraq, are carrying several Scamps.
About two dozen Scamp terminals also are being used by Special Forces in Afghanistan, sources said.
The last three operational Milstars launched carry both a Northrop Grumman low-data-rate payload with 192channels operating at 2,400 bps. and a Boeing medium-data-rate system with 32 additional channels operating at 1.5Mbps.
The higher data-rate system allows the rapid transmission of intelligence imagery to soldiers in the field -- and directly into the cockpit of aircraft such as the B-2. It also has enabled the relay of complex Air Tasking Orders in 6-sec. bursts to the Navy's aircraft carriers and land-based air operations against Iraq. These ATO transmissions earlier took about 2 hr. to send.
