Space Control: Is Army Investment Necessary?

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This monograph investigates Army involvement in space control capability development for the purpose of answering the question: Is Army investment necessary? The Army 's future force is highly dependant on information superiority to maintain land warfare dominance while transforming to an expeditionary, jointly interdependent force. Space control provides the assurance of access to the space-based capabilities enabling information superiority and denying the same to an adversary. The importance of space control capabilities to the Army requires a capability development approach that meets Army near- and long-term needs, supports joint interdependence, and is fiscally feasible. The scope of this monograph is limited to an analysis of the available options to meet these requirements. The three options for capability development explored are: 1) leverage the efforts of other Services, 2) focus on more conventional, terrestrial-based methods of space control against ground segments, and 3) develop and field capabilities within the Army. The analysis evaluates each option against the criteria of unity of effort, initial-entry force lethality and survivability, non-lethal capability, and information superiority. The analysis is framed within the context of a developed scenario and Army space control needs during the early stages of conflict as an expeditionary force. From this analysis, joint interdependence, in the near-term, does not allow for a completely passive approach by the Army. The importance of space control is accepted by all the Services however, service-unique requirements do not promote a common set of priorities in its attainment. Each option demonstrates different strengths and weaknesses against the criteria and the best solution is a melding of the three proposed courses of action. Successful harvesting of space control benefits by the Army is possible. Certain aspects of space control, especially in the areas of surveillance and prevention, are adequa