Space command looks to fill communication gaps as budgets tighten.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

"Doing more without more," the mantra coming from the office of the secretary of defense--is a challenge for the Air Force as it tries to keep pace with growing demands for its satellite communications.

"Despite the reduced budgets, we are seeing a growth in our secure communications requirements," said Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Air Force's space and missile center in Los Angeles.

The space domain, according to the National Space Policy, was centered around the so-called "three Cs." Space is "contested, congested and competitive." Add to that two more "Cs:" cost constrained, officials have noted.

The problem is that developing, building and launching military communications satellites is one of the most expensive and complex tasks the U.S. military undertakes.

"How do we continue to progress in space--particularly in our satellite communications arena--at the same time without large budgets?" she asked at the Milcom conference in Baltimore.

The Air Force is in the process of producing a satellite communication architecture study that will seek new ways to develop and deliver the services that the military has come to rely upon. Meanwhile, it is in the process of fielding two powerful new satellite communications fleets, the Advanced-EHF (extremely high frequency) and the Wideband Gapfiller System.

But even with these new constellations, there are still large communication gaps the Air Force would like to fill. One is EHF satellite communications for tactical communications on the move. The new Advanced-EHF satellites are intended for high-level strategic communications and are poorly suited for pushing information down to lower echelons, such as platoons moving in tactical-wheeled vehicles.

The other shortfall is meeting increasing demand for bandwidth that controls and transmits data from the four sendees' fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles. Commercial satellite providers currently fill the gaps, but their services don't come cheap. They also do not provide the protection from jamming military communications normally require.

As the fight for increasingly scarce resources heats up, the good news for the Air Force is that spaced-based communications are indispensable, said Gil Klinger, deputy assistant secretary* of defense for space and intelligence at the office of the secretary of defense.

Klinger is the voice at OSD attempting to impose fiscal discipline on the Air Force when it comes to acquiring space assets. They...