Integration of Land, Sea, Air, Space, and Cyberspace in a 'Purple' World

The first panel discussion of the conference concerned the integration of five domains in which the military operates - land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. The panelists addressed issues such as tasking for satellites, the importance of assured access to space services, and the points of intersection between the various physical and nonphysical environments. It was noted that a satellite in low Earth orbit, even if it was launched to meet the needs of a particular theater commander, can provide services to multiple theaters throughout the course of its orbit. If its capabilities are not used, then that is wasteful and there may be other commanders who would be glad to use the space asset even if they were uninvolved in the original request.

Looking to the future, one of the key goals of the British government is assured access to the space assets the British military has come to rely upon. In some regards, the UK is already ahead of the game because space utilization is already treated as a cross-government issue and therefore it is less difficult to conduct joint space operations. However, the dearth of indigenous space assets means that the U.K. is dependent on U.S. and other allied space systems for many of its capabilities, and this is a source of some concern although the expectation is that the international relationships will remain strong. The panel also discussed future developments such as the potential for hosting more military payloads on commercial satellites, cyber warfare against space systems, and cooperation with other nations to enhance space situational awareness.