Defense Acquisitions

The increasing use of military and commercial satellites for national security and business purposes will have significant implications for the United States in the 21st century. The Defense Department (DOD) has traditionally used satellite systems in passive roles to support military operations--for example, to collect intelligence data, warn of ballistic missile launches, and to transmit voice and data communications. Today, plans are being developed to expand the use of military satellite systems and develop technologies, such as lasers and electronic jammers, that could be used to actively conduct warfare in space. With advances in information technology, the commercial use of satellites is also expanding, particularly in telecommunications. This report reviews DOD's approach to implementing the U.S. Space Command's 1998 long-range plan for expanding military space systems. GAO evaluates the extent to which (1) plans for expanding military space systems conform to national and defense space policies, (2) funding projections support planned military space programs and desired capabilities, and (3) steps are being taken to educate military personnel to support future military space operations.

GAO noted that: (1) the U.S. Space Command's long-range plan and the Air Force Space Command's supporting strategic master plan provide for the protection of U.S. national interests and investments in space, but they do not fully conform to DOD's new space policy; (2) the plans propose space systems only and do not provide for an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of terrestrial--land, sea, and air--systems as alternatives to space systems, which is called for in DOD's policy; (3) in addition, DOD lacks the modeling and simulation tools necessary to perform such assessments, a capability that is also called for in DOD's space policy; (4) it is unclear which DOD organization has the authority and capability to perform comparative assessments between space and terrestrial systems since such assessments are outside the purview of the U.S. and Air Force Space Commands; (5) these factors prevent DOD from being assured that the most cost-effective approaches will be considered in making decisions on the expansion of space systems; (6) the extent to which the Air Force's 18-year program projection supports planned military space programs and desired capabilities was unverifiable; (7) although several of the planned space systems, such as a space-based radar and a space-based laser, are included in the Air Force's program projection, cost estimates in the Air Force Space Command's strategic master plan were not directly traceable to the 18-year program funding projections; (8) Air Force Space Command representatives stated that they intend to institute changes to bring about consistency between the documents; (9) DOD has not given sufficient attention to providing military personnel with space education to support future military space operations; (10) DOD's new space policy requires that information about space force structure, missions, capabilities, and applications be incorporated into professional military education; (11) however, joint military doctrine on space operations that is necessary to implement the policy has not been issued because of disagreement among the services on the doctrine's content; (12) leaving the disagreement unresolved hinders common understanding for the use of space systems in military operations; and (13) until the doctrine is provided, DOD and military service educational institutions will lack guidance for the development of space education curricula and for determining whether existing curricula need to be modified.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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