Civilian/Military: A Happy Partnership?

There was a time when all military communications equipment and services were tailored and built specifically for the military. However, now there is a great deal of synergy that occurs between civilian and military communications. The civilian sector has a great deal to offer, including cost effectiveness and bandwidth. Helen Jameson investigates military and civilian partnerships.

Today, military communications are more important and sophisticated than ever and they also perform a vital role in terms of security. Military communications involve land, sea and air in the modern battlefield and rely upon complex systems of communications. Military programmes are becoming very ambitious. The ultimate aim is connect each soldier at all echelons and to create a network centric environment. At the heart of many of these emerging military communications systems are commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. The equipment and services are provided by commercial companies and adapted to suit the military environment. The private sector is providing satellite bandwidth for military use and is also putting money up for new military communications ventures. Satellite systems and services are providing the link for these transformational communications. In this article, I would like to focus upon partnerships that create the satellite infrastructure to allow these communications.

Military demand for Commercial Bandwidth: New Skies

The demand for increasing amounts of bandwidth from the military is no surprise. The new technology used in the battlefield, as we have seen, is becoming more sophisticated and therefore is much more bandwidth-hungry. The military has turned to commercial satellite operators in order to satiate this demand. At Global Milsatcom 2008 in London earlier this year, the issue of commercial bandwidth was high on the agenda. SES New Skies’ Commercial Director Simon Gatty Saunt explained that government and military sales are a large part of what they do. In fact, these sales account for approximately one third of New Skies’ revenue. This figure is up from less than 20 percent in 2001 – a figure that New Skies believes is one of the highest in the fixed satellite service industry. When we think of commercial bandwidth being consumed, the US military immediately springs to mind. However, New Skies revealed that demand for their capacity is coming from government and militaries all over the world – Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Uzbekistan, UK, Venezuela and the United Nations.

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