Skies

In an effort to connect every “thing”, event, and place on the planet to the internet, plans are for launching over 100,000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to complement terrestrial 5G. (NB: estimates vary.) As of April 2nd, 2021, over 80 countries had satellite programs. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is leading the charge with plans for 48,000 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites set to communicate with millions of User Terminals and hundreds of Earth base stations. Most recently, the company has applied to the FCC for additional user terminals for vehicles called, Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM). For an overview…

Systems warfare relies on a vast infrastructure of satellites, cell towers, antennas, sensors, and cameras that “vacuum up” as much data as possible. The sheer quantity of data is more than humans can make sense of and that wireless bandwidth can manage. So, the data is aggregated, sorted and sifted through by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine what is of value, how it can be combined, and to whom it should be directed. Command and Control (still predominantly manned by humans but increasingly being outsourced to machines) then sets the parameters for the data it will need for defense or offense in a given operation. Within seconds, “thanks” to systems warfare, the data supporting military aggression is “actionable.”