9 minute read
Revolutionizing ISR Missions with Bandwidth and Security Boost
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Will Tong, VP Strategic Government
Initiatives, Aero & ISR at SES highlights the benefits that the next generation of satellite communications is bringing to governments – and how they’re informing security initiatives
For governments around the world, carrying out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions using a range of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), also known as drones, has become a critical way of gathering intelligence, as well as monitoring and managing operations. In fact, RPAS adoption by governments is increasing and the number of aircraft with satellite communications (SATCOM) is forecast by the analyst firm, NSR, to reach more than 10,000 by 2031. At SES we also see NATO and the Nations developing ISR capabilities in a wider setting with newer defence and security philosophies and goals, such as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) influencing the development.
That’s why technology field trials of advanced systems, like the recent one performed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), SES and Hughes Network Systems to demonstrate multi-orbit SATCOM using an MQ-9B SkyGuardian® RPAS, are so important.
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O3b mPOWER satellites undergoing tests at the manufacturer facility, ahead of the launch (PHOTO: Boeing)
The trials took place at GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon flight operations facility in El Mirage, California. The demonstration leveraged SES’s O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) system that provides carrier-grade performance, scalability and resilience, and Geostationary (GEO) satellites. The connectivity service roamed seamlessly across satellites in GEO and MEO orbits, reaching 45 Mbps of throughput, using a Hughes HM Series software-defined modem and Hughes Resource Management System. This was a testament that proves how RPAS can maintain high workloads, mission-critical connectivity and resiliency, even in contested environments.
POWER OF MEO AND MULTI-ORBITS
Traditional SATCOM services limit the performance of advanced next-generation systems, requiring applications to be constrained. For years, defence and security communities have only received limited visibility and partial value from their ISR investments, largely due to the limited connectivity of legacy SATCOM. This was until MEO satellites came into the play. Positioned at around 8,000 kilometers away from Earth they represent a sweet spot for high-throughput, low-latency, uncontended fibre-equivalent service and coverage for the missions. Thanks to a multi-orbit service, in wider geographical areas, high-performance GEO adds resiliency and reinforces reach capabilities.
As the next-generation RPAS continue to expand their roster of sensors and deliver more intricate payloads, they require higher bandwidth with more robust security and network resiliency, for wider distances. This is why the introduction of second-generation MEO systems, such as the SES O3b mPOWER, is so timely. By delivering 10 times the performance with a significantly smaller form factor and improved multi-orbit resiliency and security, this connectivity dramatically transforms the capabilities of RPAS and the value they can deliver in ISR missions.
Today’s ISR missions have multiple sensors to collect and relay critical information to field commanders as well as analysts and senior staff around the world, so the data can be analysed and acted upon in real time. The challenge is that many of these ISR aircraft use 30 cm antennas that only get a maximum of 2 Mbps of connectivity. A smaller number are installed with 71 cm antennas and can get 10 Mbps. Either way, the limited connectivity forces them to turn off sensors or cycle them to only send back partial data, limiting the full ISR capabilities of the equipment. Alternatively, they can fly multiple passes until they have collected all the data, but this increases mission risk and operating costs, while reducing the utilization efficiency of ISR assets.
In the current geopolitical context, security and resiliency of assets, including SATCOM capabilities, must be assessed and addressed at an enhanced level. A disruptive SATCOM technology, such as the O3b mPOWER, will support governments through unprecedented performance, resiliency, waveformagnostic service and enabling network sovereignty. They will also have control over performance and geographic reach, own their ground network, and leverage secure, steerable beams with location obfuscation. Built according to Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) Policy 12, the second-generation MEO system brings the capability to deploy government waveforms with TRANSEC (transmission security), and is inherently jam- and interception-resistant.
With the emergence of O3b mPOWER and multi-orbit SATCOM, governments are now able to unleash the full ISR potential of their RPAS assets to the benefit of national and broader security initiatives.
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INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
A safe and united world
Defence is about much more than deterring aggressors
Jo Müller
Head of Communications and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), Airbus Defence and Space
Sustainability and defence are no contradiction, says Jo Müller, Head of Sustainability and Communications at Airbus Defence and Space. He explains why you can’t have one without the other in an everconnected, always-on world – and how he manages his personal sustainability balance sheet.
How sustainable are you?
There’s always room for improvement: even though I use my bike and public transport more often, eat less meat and get rid of plastics, I still have a passion for classic cars. On the positive side of my personal sustainability balance sheet, though, I invest almost all of my rare spare time in having a positive impact on people in need. For more than a decade, I have supported humanitarian NGOs in combat theatres and post-conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Mali with pro bono photo documentaries that raise awareness and funds. All in all, I feel like I’m moving in the right direction.
How does all of that go together with your job as Head of Sustainability and Communications at Airbus Defence and Space?
It goes together very well, because my intrinsic motivation to inspire empathy and respect for life in need is very complementary to the Airbus purpose: to pioneer sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world.
No, not at all. At Airbus, we recognize how the interdependence of environmental disasters and social unrest can accelerate reciprocal escalation – on both a local and global level. The sheer speed of cause and effect in this ever-connected, always-on world makes it increasingly difficult to anticipate, demarcate and analyse incidents. Once they start, it is even more difficult to foresee their magnitude and impact. Therefore, we define ‘defence’, the core of our Defence and Space business, more broadly than deterring aggressors and protecting civilian lives and armed forces in battle. From our military aircraft to satellites and connected intelligence capabilities, we want to contribute to a safe and united world.
What does this objective look like in practice?
We help our customers to prevent humanitarian and environmental crises through their use of our technologies to observe, detect, analyse and anticipate. If prevention fails, we enable nations and authorities with our integrated and collaborative solutions to ensure operational superiority in defending values, securing nations and ecosystems and protecting life from immediate negative impact. Last but not least, our products and services support the restoration of social and environmental systems in the aftermath of crises and conflicts.
Can you give us some concrete examples?
When it comes to monitoring deforestation, analysing rising sea levels or ensuring global food security, our Earth observation satellites are on duty 24/7, providing actionable, near real-time insights. Just like our Eurofighters that are used to defend NATO’s eastern flank and secure airspace around the world. Our A400M tactical airlifters act as flying hospitals and can evacuate large numbers of people out of danger, as they did during the siege of Kabul in 2021. And our C295 aircraft played a critical role in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in March 2021, delivering food, anti-cholera kits and other life-saving goods to those in need.
Climate change is obviously a big challenge. How does Airbus Defence and Space support the fight against it?
At any one time, 20 of our satellites are monitoring the health of our planet, for example providing vital geospatial data to combat deforestation. Using our remote-sensing solution Starling, food company Ferrero monitored 1.2 million hectares of forest in 2021, ensuring its palm oil supply chain was 99% deforestation free. And the NGO Fairtrade is developing a pilot project on deforestation and environmental
vulnerability together with smallholder farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, also using Starling. Typical actions here will result in further sustainable forest management practices linked to cocoa.
We are also addressing the everincreasing threat posed by wildfires: this summer we successfully tested a removable firefighting kit that can easily convert our A400M into a water bomber. This contribution to a more sustainable world is possible because Airbus has innovated high technology solutions during decades for the armed forces and, now, draws on these capabilities to protect the planet.
How does Airbus Defence and Space reduce its environmental impact?
As part of our sustainability strategy, we are working on reducing our industrial environmental footprint at our sites worldwide and across our supply chain. This means, for example, supplying all our sites in Europe with 100% renewable and low-carbon electricity by 2024. We also have a task force working on reducing our energy consumption by 20%, our water usage by 50% and our waste production by 20% no later than 2030 (compared to 2015).
But that’s only one side of the coin. We also strive to make our products more eco-efficient and less polluting. For instance, as part of our Ecodesign initiative, we conducted a life cycle assessment of our Sentinel Earth observation satellites that we develop on the behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). Working closely together with our customers and suppliers, this enables us to take more environmentally friendly design decisions when it comes to improving product end-of-life management or reducing the use of critical raw materials.
A400M flight test with a removable firefighting demonstrator kit (PHOTO: Airbus)
The European defence industry is closely interlinked through international programmes, and its main customers work together within the NATO framework. Are you involved in any of these cross-industry initiatives or programmes?
Absolutely. Airbus is a founding member of Clean Sky 2, the largest European aeronautics research programme. As a public-private partnership between the European Commission and the European aeronautics industry it aims to develop innovative, cutting-edge technologies and solutions to reduce the environmental impact of the aviation industry while improving industry competitiveness and increasing mobility efficiency by 2024. Providing the so-called Flight Test Bed 2 based on our C295, our military aircraft business is part of this ambitious journey. The aim is to reduce CO2 and NOx emissions in a typical Search and Rescue (SAR) mission of 400 nautical miles by 43% and 70% respectively. But it’s not only the environment that will profit from these new technologies, our ears will too: take-offs will generate up to 45% less noise compared to traditional SAR aircraft.
How can the defence industry move forward in pursuit of greater sustainability?
Sustainability is a bold and ambitious commitment to present and future generations. And to be successful and make a real impact, it will require a collective effort. No single industry or country will be able to master the challenges of today and tomorrow alone, we need to collaborate. The ambition is set and shared by NATO since Heads of State endorsed NATO’s Climate Change and Security Action Plan (CCSAP) at their 2021 Summit in Brussels. What we now need are strategic guardrails that outlive legislative periods and short-term tactical considerations.
