of Civilian Remote Sensing - Princeton University

1 Appendix C:Military Usesof CivilianRemote SensingDataThis appendix addresses the military utility of data from civilianremote- Sensing satellites. This utility draws the interest Ofthose who might ignore the satellites and their more prosaicutility for Earth-sciences applications. Technically, it pressesthe satellites to their limits of resolution, both spatial and spectral, andtimeliness. Politically, it raises questions of who should be allowed tobuy what data. Militarily, it brings a whole new group of intelligenceplatforms, for what they are worth, into play for only their marginalcost. The Department of Defense has been purchasing remotely senseddata from EOSAT (Landsat) and SPOT Image (SPOT) for some time.

2 1 However, tile extensive use of Landsat and SPOT data in the PersianGulf Conflict has awakened public and congressional interest in thesubject and focused attention on the issues appendix does not address such questions as the Civilian (scientific) utility of military satellites, or the overlap of Civilian andmilitary satellite , the sensitive question of thecapabilities of military satellites does not concern us here-we needonly investigate the capabilities of Civilian satellites, and the questionof how well those capabilities might serve military needs.| Military Remote Sensing MissionsMilitary Remote Sensing missions include reconnaissance (includingbroad area search, combat intelligence, indications and warning of war,and arms control verification); mapping, charting, and geodesy; andmeteorology.

3 While rule-of-thumb precepts quantifying the capabili-ties needed to perform certain tasks abound, we find them wanting and1 Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, l?emote Sensing and the PrivateSector; ~ for D/. , OTA-TM-lSC-20 (Washing[on, DC GovernmentPrinting Office, March 1984).2 Or capabihty most such precepts reduce satellite capabilities to a single parameter, I Remote Sensing From Spaceprefer instead to be guided by instances in whichspecific satellites imaged specific targets of militaryinterest, or targets like those of military interest. Seenin this light, even some of the least promising civiliansatellites show surprising potential military MISSIONSR econnaissance is a mission undertaken to obtain,by visual observation or other detection methods,information about the activities and resources of anenemy or potential enemy.]

4 3 This mission dates backat least as far as the spies Moses and Joshua sent intothe Promised Land,4 and has traditionally been theprovince of unarmed or Lightly armed scouts (likeJoshua and his men), as well as cavalry, balloons,5 andaircraft. Particular reconnaissance missions include(roughly in ascending order of difficulty) broad areasearch; indications and warning; combat intelligence;and arms control agreement Area Search This mission is the mostunfocused reconnaissance possible: sweeping attentionto an area of land or sea looking for previouslyundetected items of potential military significance,rather than for some particular military installation orformation.

5 The enormous scope of the typical broadarea search mission is, typically, somewhat offset bythe large size of the targets of interest: when searchingthe hinterlands, one probably seeks clandestine or newmilitary installations,indications of new militaryprograms, and the like. Detailed examination of whatone finds can be done later, with more area search is almost the norm for reconnais-sance at sea: even in peacetime, ships and airplanespatrol the oceans to see whatever is there. While theirefforts are largely focused on submarines, thesedifficult and yet important targets do not get all of theattention; tracking of surface ships remains a vitalmission in the United States and Warning Indications and Warn-ing comprises.

6 ,.those intelligence activities intended to detect andreport time-sensitive intelligence information on for-eign developments that could pose a threat to the UnitedStates or allied military, political, or economic interestsor to citizens abroad. It includes forewarning ofenemy actions or intentions; the imminence of hostili-ties; insurgent or other attack on the United States, itsoverseas forces, or allied nations; hostile reactions toUnited States reconnaissance activities, terrorists at-tacks; and other similar crisis, rearrangement of aircraft, tanks,railcars, or ships within their basing areas, or theirdeparture from their basing areas, could lead one toexpect that an attack, or at the very least an alert, wasunderway.

7 Vigilance regarding warning signs is amajor intelligence mission for the United States. By itsvery nature, this mission must be performed continu-ously. Its intensity increases during periods of tensionand Intelligence-Combat intelligence is thatknowledge of the enemy, weather, and geographicalfeatures required by a commarider in the planning andconduct of military operations, It provides militaryforces with enormous leverage, and is a prerequisite forthe American style of War,g and, indeed, for victoryitself, Knowledge of the enemy includes the sizeand character of his forces, where they are and wherethey are not, the routes by which they are supplied, theextent of their logistic preparation for movement orcombat, the nature of any fortifications they mayoccupy, and so on.

8 It also includes the character ofterrain and weather where operations might Depa~~nt of Defense Dictiona~ of Military and Associated (Joint Pub 1-02, formerly JCS ~b 1). ~s is tie fist def~tion of. reconnaissance. The second is more general and includes mapping, hydrography, Numbers 13: 1-25 and Joshti 2:1-24. (See also Numbers 13:27 and 13:28 for an early example of an On the one hand .. , but on theother hand .. intelligence assessment.)s Both crewed and otherwise. See Curtis Peebles, The Moby Dick Projecf (WashingtorL DC: Smithsonian Institution+ 1991).b Department of Defense Dictionary of MiIita~ and Associated Terms, op. cit., footnote 3, p. Ibid., p. * No commander an succ~d ~ess he demands and receives the intelligence and combat kfOImiNiOn he netXk.

9 Udd S@teS ArmyFM 100-5, Operations, August 1982, Washir@o~ DC, p. C-Military Uses of Civilian Remote Sensing Data I 147 Surprisingly, military weather is not quite the sameas Civilian weather. Civilian satellites presently makesignificant contributions to the military s weatherforecasting: the military person s theater and themeteorologist mesoscale correspond to about thesame spatial dimensions-on the order of a millionsquare kilometers. But the knowledge of weatherrequired for the combat intelligence mission caninclude scales of time and space not normally associ-ated with weather forecasts, right down to the limitingcase of informing a commander as to the currentweather at his present location.

10 Military meteorologyalso includes measurement of parameters seldomwanted or needed in the Civilian world, such as directmeasurement of rain Civilian weather satellites deficiencies in satisfying military needs include:atmospheric Sensing and observation capabilities,meteorological data acquisition and assimilation sys-tems, and models needed to make reliable forecastsand nowcasts (descriptions of the weather withinthe coming day) of mesoscale weather with resolutionof kilometers, extent of thousands of kilometers, andtimescales of 6 to 72 hours. The military s goal ofworldwide rapid response exceeds any current capabil-ity, military or Civilian , for collecting data and turningthem into a forecast.