New Technology Helps Army Ground Forces Evade Chinese & Russian Satellites

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Using cloud cover, snow and weather obscurants to maneuver, inflating rubber “tank” decoys and operating beneath tree cover or uneven terrain … are all critical ways ground forces have sought to elude detection from enemy surveillance satellites.

However, what if advanced computer algorithms and cutting edge technologies are able to pinpoint the exact time, speed, location and “field of regard” of enemy satellites? Using commercially developed and patented technologies, Northern Virginia based startup Royce Geo demonstrated that capability earlier this year in close coordination with a large group of vendors and Army weapons developers at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

The US Army continues to work with industry innovators to develop breakthrough satellite detection and data processing technology designed to enable previously unprecedented ability to discern an enemy satellite’s collection window and coverage using commercial information and advanced automation algorithms within Royce Geo’s CURVE Operational Environment (OE).

The idea is to use advanced technology to determine the “orbital plane,” frequency and trajectory of enemy satellites and establish what’s called a “chain of custody” to calculate the time window and location at which an enemy satellite sensor has “visibility” of ground operations. Once this time window is calculated, then ground commanders can adapt a scheme of maneuver designed to elude detection or simply remain “out-of-view” of an enemy satellite’s “field of regard.”