Space Support to Military Operations Other than War

Military commanders have come to rely heavily on information dominance for successful outcomes across all spectrums of conflict. Space derived information has become the primary source of this information. Much effort has been placed in addressing doctrine and types of information required for the more conventional types of wars like our recent experience in Desert Storm. However, the required information (type and amount) and its timeliness (Direct Data Link vs standard data paths) for wars on the low end of the Spectrum of Conflict such as insurgencies, guerilla wars, civil wars, and peacekeeping operations needs more definition. This computer product will use recent military experiences in Desert Storm, Somalia, and Bosnia, to demonstrate how the different types of information from space affected the outcomes of those missions both good and bad. Using these lessons learned, we will address what types of data, quantity of data, and timeliness of data that will be required to support military operations other than war (MOOTW) for low intensity conflicts (LIC). Lastly, the product will show what future technologies and experiments are out there to make these new requirements feasible.