Issue 109

24 Oct: Michael P. Gleason from Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy released a report describing lessons from the Ukraine-Russia conflict for US Department of Defense and the US Space Force. My main takeaway from the article was “Ukraine has demonstrated that what matters is not only what satellite data or services are available but also how fast they are delivered to the warfighter and how well equipped the warfighters are with proper user equipment and training for integrating and using data from space.” More excerpts below, read full report (9 pages) here.

– In early-2022 most national security experts would have predicted that Russia would gain significant advantage from its outer space capabilities in the event of an intensified conflict between the two (Russia & Ukraine) nations.

– Ukraine had neither a space program nor any national satellites…(but were able to) successfully leverage commercial space services, including imagery, radar, and communications, to enable

communications among their forces and to target Russian forces.

– Ukraine’s innovative use of data and networks to provide actionable information to fielded forces has had a powerful effect on the battlefield…ground systems and data networks have proven vital to Ukrainian forces’ ability to integrate the data from space into their operations and weapon systems. Effective data integration has strengthened Ukraine’s defense against numerically superior Russian forces.

– Russia has attacked and continues to threaten commercial space ground systems and data networks in this war, suggesting Russia knows how critical these capabilities have been for Ukraine. This highlights the vulnerability of ground systems and data networks. Russia’s attacks have consisted of temporary, reversible attacks against satellites or cyberattacks against ground infrastructure and not destructive attacks against the satellites themselves.

– Commercial electro-optical imagery and synthetic aperture radar companies, which can detect movements at night and through clouds, have helped Ukraine’s military forces target Russian assets and carry out battle damage assessments.

– Commercial satellite communications have also been fundamental to Ukraine’s defense. The commercial companies that have provided information to Ukraine include Viasat, OneWeb, SES, Iridium, Inmarsat, Eutelsat, Avanti, and, most prominently, Starlink.

– A key reason Russia has not been able to exploit its advantage in indigenous space capabilities is that Russian forces have not sufficiently integrated data from their space capabilities at the operational and tactical levels…(Russia suffers from) inadequate doctrine, strategy, training, material investment, and a lack of priority on “getting space support to the warfighter.”

-Ukraine has demonstrated that what matters is not only what satellite data or services are provided, but also how they are delivered to the warfighter…The networked, distributed approach to using and sharing information from space pursued by Ukraine and its allies has demonstrated the asymmetric advantages of this approach compared to the centralized, hierarchical structure used by Russia. The timeline for transferring data from space to warfighters has dropped from days to hours or, in some circumstances, to fewer than 10 minutes.

– The “Uber for artillery” application, GIS Arta, allows units collecting information on potential targets, including from satellites, to share that information directly with units that could fire on the targets. This application pairs sensors with shooters in a decentralized network instead of having to funnel specific information up and back down through centralized command nodes. As another example, Palantir software can draw imagery from a total of 306 commercial satellites. Soldiers in battle can use handheld tablets to request more satellite coverage if they need it.