The Crunch

Demand for bandwidth is rising as capacity declines, but will the next-generation satellite system make it to orbit on time?

By DAVID W. MUNNS, Assistant Editor

As the fighting force of the future evolves, the need for constant communications between operational commanders and warfighters is a critical asset. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is pushing the military to adapt its capabilities to deal with a broader range of challenges, including irregular, catastrophic and disruptive threats. Much of the emphasis is on mobility and speed in a highly networked environment, and rapid-fire, always-on communications for troops on the ground could make the difference between winning or losing in battle.

Sufficient bandwidth capacity is a key to the future. But many worry that the Navy and Marine Corps are about to get caught in the crunch between rising demand for more bandwidth and capacity that has abruptly declined. In addition, the services already are struggling with a 250 percent oversubscription of communications satellites that facilitate warfighters, according to the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems (SPAWAR) Command.

“Bandwidth communications is something that has generally been viewed as a scarce resource, especially with the growth of networking technologies and the increasing reliance on those technologies,” Ronald O’Rourke, a specialist in national defense for Congress, told Seapower.

To provide sufficient bandwidth, he said there are basically two options: lease capacity from commercial providers or put up DoD-run satellites.

The Defense Department has doled out responsibility for a narrowband satellite to the Navy. The service’s role in space is increasing each year, nurtured of late by the 2006 guidance statement of Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, that underscores the importance of FORCEnet, the warfare concept to leverage U.S. superiority in information systems and bolster the military’s ability to sense, identify, communicate, attack and assess in concert with joint forces and coalition partners.

The chief thrust of Navy space acquisition is to increase satellite bandwidth communications, according to Rear Adm. Victor See, whose three hats as commander of SPAWAR Space Field Activity, director of the communications directorate for the National Reconnaissance Office and program executive officer for Naval Space Systems position him to oversee a majority of naval space acquisition personnel. See said his No. 1 means to bolster bandwidth is to deliver the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS).

MUOS is the next-generation narrowband solution to provide connectivity for Ultra High Frequency (UHF) devices such as antenna radios found in tactical vehicles, hand-held receivers and airborne systems. Comprising a constellation of four operational satellites and one on-orbit satellite, MUOS would operate identically to a cellular phone system. Marines in the heat of conflict would use mobile Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) terminals, which would replace current UHF battlefield systems, to connect with MUOS satellites and the information they wield.

The future system is designed to replace the UHF Follow-On (UFO) system of 10 satellites that supports a vast array of military terminals critical to maneuver warfare and dominance of the battle space. UFO was hamstrung in June by the unexpected loss of UFO F3, which was predicted to last through the second quarter of 2010, according to a June presentation at the FORCEnet Engineering Conference in Norfolk, Va., by Bryan Scurry, director of operations for the Navy’s Space Systems program executive office.

“One of the big requirements for MUOS is communications on the move,” where each troop on the ground has a radio to communicate with and access the network of other soldiers, ships, aircraft and command centers, See said. MUOS will serve all services, but a majority of users will be in the Marine Corps, Army and Air Force.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s 2006 budget report contained initial recommendations to cut $100 million from the $470 million funding request for MUOS. However, See and the Pentagon’s Joint Staff are hopeful the funding will be restored in the final version of the bill because of the urgency to deliver MUOS on time.

“U.S. military communications today largely depend on the commercial satellite industry,” James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Institute Studies and director of the Technology and Public Policy Program, told Seapower.

The Navy currently leases services from the satellite LEASAT-5, which is procured through G2 Satellite Solutions, formerly Hughes Space and Communications.

However, the military typically is uncomfortable with commercial satellites, which are built to a different standard and not owned by the Pentagon. For the long term, military officials foresee a mix of commercial and military satellites, with dedicated military orbiters providing the bulk of top-priority warfare communications.

MUOS is anticipated to reach initial operational capability in 2010, a three-year setback from initial expectations, according to SPAWAR. The delay is due to prior funding cuts, and the loss of UFO F3 could foreshadow increased pressure on the MUOS schedule in months to come. Moreover, the performance of the entire UFO system is expected to diminish to unacceptable levels by 2010-2012. Complete loss of the system “would have a significant impact on combat operations,” Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak, then-deputy chief of naval operations, told Congress in March.

F3’s failure is a “caution flag that we need to get MUOS on schedule and get it up because these satellites are getting old,” See said.

A huge innovation of the new MUOS satellites is that they are equipped with legacy payloads, enabling current UFO users to access MUOS immediately once it’s launched. The system includes improvements such as power-saving features that allow it to run on minimal power when not being accessed, and the ability to mix bandwidth, which essentially means multiple users can access the same beam of the network from the MUOS. This allows for many more simultaneous users in the same battle arena.

“If you look systemwide,” See said, “UFO gives us about 2.6 Mbps (megabits per second) total.”

The average troop requires 2.4 kbps (kilobits per second) presently, but that number is expected to increase in future operations and could go as high as 9.6 kbps. “The MUOS is going to have the ability to go much higher than 2.4 kbps,” See said.

Also, the current 1,100 worldwide accesses provided by UFO could be augmented to 17,000 access points once MUOS is launched, assuming each user requires 2.4 kbps of bandwidth. Should the requirement rise to 9.6 kbps per user, MUOS will enable about 4,250 users to access the network at any given time.

Experts told Seapower that the need for bandwidth has increased exponentially with every military operation over the past decade.

“We’ll be able to limp along with what we have now, but if there was a future conflict, or an additional conflict, the system would be hard pressed,” Lewis said.

Linked to MUOS, the JTRS terminals will be equipped with omni-directional antennas to maintain constant communications with their chain of command through the new MUOS satellites. Should an unexpected event occur, the warfighters will easily be able to request assistance from the chain of command without having to aim an antenna and expose themselves to hostile fire.

Additionally, troops on the ground would have instant access to the future Global Information Grid, a huge effort to integrate most of DoD’s information systems and services into a seamless, secure and interconnected network.

The operational management of the MUOS system will be allocated to several organizations. The satellite’s orbital operations, including launch, payload status and anomaly resolution, will be the responsibility of the Naval Network and Space Operations Command and the Naval Satellite Operations Center.

User operations, such as provisioning, administration and help-desk support, will be handled by the MUOS Global Satellite Support Center, co-located at the U.S. Strategic Command. There will also be several regional satellite support centers located at the various combatant commands. Network management will occur at the two MUOS Network Management Facilities located in Hawaii and Virginia.

The Lockheed Martin-contracted MUOS program received approval September 2004 to enter preliminary design; build approval is currently scheduled for October 2006. The buy decision will be made in October 2008, and launch of the first MUOS satellite is scheduled late in 2009, providing preliminary operational capabilities in orbit in March 2010.

Subsequent MUOS launches are currently scheduled in October 2010, June 2011, June 2012 and June 2013, allowing full operational capability of the system no later than July 2014. The system has a 10-year life span. A sixth satellite may be needed in 2018, according to SPAWAR, due to a requirement to maintain the constellation through 2024.

“MUOS is the common denominator for command and control, providing the capability to communicate from tactical to theater levels, to allies and coalition partners, and between defense and non-defense agencies,” Sestak said.