When anti-coalition forces in Iraq used jammers last year to thwart Global Positioning System precision-guided munitions in that theater, it represented a new, but not unexpected, challenge for the U.S. military: The first time an adversary challenged its dominance in space.
The war in Iraq has prompted the US military to secure unprecedented access to commercial satellites. It needs to supplement its own substantial satellite data bandwidth to enable full surveillance of Iraq and reliable military communications.
Industry sources say the Pentagon has been scrambling to buy up access to commercial satellites to bolster its own orbiting space fleet. The military needs the bandwidth to support an information-age battle plan that depends on the ability to transmit huge amounts of data to troops in the field, planes in the air and even weapons in flight.
At least a dozen nations will watch the war with Iraq unfold from space, including some countries that oppose U.S. policies in the Middle East. That means a hostile government could share satellite intelligence about U.S. war strategy with Saddam Hussein.
Iraq could try to jam US communications and intelligence satellites in a war, but is unlikely to succeed according to a senior U.S. Air Force officer.