Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Communications Set to Reshape the Battlefield: From Kill Chain to Kill Web

The way tactical communications networks are interconnected is shifting from the linear Kill Chain structure to the Kill Web, which links multiple force elements. This reflects a change in satellite communications technology that is reshaping the battlefield, showing a shift from a traditional straight-line chain structure to a network-based system.

The Kill Chain refers to a linear, single-link chain strike system of detection, decision-making, and attack. By contrast, the Kill Web is a network-based strike system that connects various force elements, such as sensors, command centers, and strike systems of the ground, naval, and air forces, in a spiderweb-like formation.

Experts said that, in response to this shift, it is necessary to secure a multilayer tactical communications network using low-Earth-orbit satellite communications networks. They cited low-Earth-orbit satellite communications networks as a necessary means of implementing a structure that goes beyond linear chain connections and tightly links multiple force elements.

These discussions were covered at the "6G Satellite Communications Latest Technology Workshop" hosted by the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences on the 14th. The workshop reviewed the development status of military satellite communications in South Korea and abroad for future battlefields, and the photo credit reads: Reporter Seong Won-young.

If past wars were centered on weapons systems, modern warfare is increasingly characterized by the diversification of surveillance and reconnaissance sensors and the data-driven advancement of strike assets. The scope of the battlefield is also expanding from land and sea to cyberspace and space.

The conventional approach was the Kill Chain, which links surveillance and reconnaissance sensors, command and control systems, and strike systems. However, given these changes, a flexible Kill Web is being presented as the needed approach, one that enables organic connections among force elements and prevents the entire system from being paralyzed if some links are severed.

Jeong Gil-soo, a team leader at the Agency for Defense Development, cited GIS ARTA from the Russia-Ukraine war as a representative example of the Kill Web. GIS ARTA is an artillery fire-control battlefield management system and is also known as the "Uber for artillery." The system has significantly reduced the time needed for target detection, identification, and attack, cutting the time to strike from 20 minutes in the past to 1 minute when GIS ARTA is applied.

Jeong said GIS ARTA adopted a hybrid network structure centered on low-Earth-orbit satellites from the middle of 2022 after suffering communications disruption caused by Russia's cyberattacks at the outset of the full-scale war. Noh Hong-jun, a team leader at LIG D, said the direction of military satellite communications development is expanding from geostationary orbit (GEO) to low Earth orbit (LEO).

He pointed to the high cost and development period of about 10 years as limitations of existing geostationary satellites, and said it is difficult for them to provide resilience for combatant communications in the event of a satellite failure. He added that low-Earth-orbit satellites play a role in compensating for these limitations of geostationary satellites.

Noh said low-Earth-orbit satellites are characterized by being small satellite constellations and have shorter latency than geostationary satellites. He added that even if one satellite encounters a problem, another satellite can take its place.

The United States is proposing the "Space Data Network (SDN)", which connects geostationary satellites and low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations into a single data network. The concept involves integrating various military satellite assets, including geostationary and low-Earth-orbit systems, while linking and integrating commercial space assets and terrestrial networks to build a space-based backbone network.

Moves to secure domestic military low-Earth-orbit satellite communications technology are gaining momentum. In South Korea, efforts to establish a consultative body, launch satellites, and develop core element technologies are being advanced together as the country works to secure military low-Earth-orbit satellite communications capabilities. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration launched the "Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Communications Industry Council" in February this year for public-private-military cooperation.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea AeroSpace Administration plan to launch 2 domestically developed independent low-Earth-orbit communications satellites based on 6G international standards by 2030. The Agency for Defense Development is developing "remotely reconfigurable satellite control-link technology" to respond to attacks and malicious interference, and is also developing "high-speed variable beamforming for low-Earth-orbit satellites" to accurately track the radio waves of mobile terminals and tactical nodes.

Against this backdrop, experts say that in future battlefield environments, building a multilayer communications network that combines satellite, ground, and airborne networks will become more important than relying on a specific communications network or satellite. There is also a view that low-Earth-orbit satellite communications could become a key layer connecting a range of tactical communications networks.

Source: IT DAILY · Seong Won-young
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241026

References

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