Space Dominance: How Laser Technologies are Reshaping Modern Military Operations

Juliana Suess, research fellow for space security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), pointed to a wide range of functions that now depend on space-based capabilities. For militaries, the first focus is satellite communications, even in areas where this may be tricky for other forms of communication: on an aircraft or a ship, for instance. Second, she pointed to positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems, essentially ‘the military version of GPS – there’s now a couple of different constellations that do that’. Third, she highlighted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications. A key shift here is that much of the data previously gathered from airborne surveillance using fixed-wing aircraft has been steadily progressing to being space-borne. And finally, Suess pointed to the potential for missile early warning, the ability ‘to track missiles as they take off’.