More than 50 years ago, the Department of Defense (DoD) began a PNT project to support deployed forces and “put five bombs in the same hole.” While not part of its original mission, signals from GPS are now accessed by and even more important to civil users.
Today, the department may well be in the process of developing one or more resilient PNT systems to support defensive capabilities that will also benefit civil users.
Metro Golden Domes
In a recent paper [1], the National Security Space Association (NSSA) outlined how resilient PNT is essential to the success of the President’s Golden Dome initiative.
In the popular imagination, Golden Dome is a virtual shield of systems protecting the U.S. from intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic drones and the like. Much less well known is the project’s “inner, limited area, layer” to protect against UAS launched from American soil or just beyond our borders.
The NSSA paper describes this part of the project as “Metro Golden Domes.” They will be, according to many experts, much easier and less expensive to create than the system being designed to protect the whole county. Technologies to support these smaller scale systems are already commercially available, many from multiple vendors. While some integration of components may be required, protecting military bases and cities from drone attacks will not require the kinds of technological advances needed to “hit a bullet with a bullet” and reliably destroy incoming hypersonic missiles.
A Single Point of Failure
One challenge that must be overcome for all the nation’s Golden Dome efforts to succeed, according to the NSSA paper, is America’s over-reliance on GPS.
The paper highlights three specific areas where more resilient, less deniable and less spoofable, PNT is required for Golden Dome success:
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Sensor Platforms. As outlined in the paper, “Detecting and tracking adversarial systems in-flight can be challenging, and PNT solutions are critical to determining the ‘where’ and ‘when’ vital in ensuring effective intercept information in all phases of potential adversarial attacks.”
Precision-Guided Interceptors. Whether it is a 100 foot-long Russian ICBM, or a 2 foot-wide drone with 10 pounds of explosive, defensive systems must strike difficult-to-hit targets. Precise timing is also essential to synchronizing various intercept system components.
Command and Control Systems. Communication systems rely on precise timing for multiplex operations. IT systems need timing for synchronization and data tagging. PNT is essential for common operational pictures and other situational awareness tools.
NSSA’s paper concludes with several recommendations for General Michael Guetlein, Space Force’s leader of Golden Dome. They include clearly articulating requirements, establishing an organization and leader for Golden Dome PNT, developing user equipment early, and establishing a “PNT improvement budget” with the goal of “deploying improvements within the next three years.”
The paper’s conclusion also pleads for a focus on integration, highlighting the interconnectedness of all components and their reliance on PNT as an invisible tech utility:
“Integration across systems that Golden Dome is dependent upon, systems that protect Golden Dome, and Golden Dome specific systems are essential to avoid electronic fratricide, system interference, and degraded system performance. Each of these systems is dependent upon common PNT frequencies, signals and enablers that Golden Dome will also seek to defeat in an adversary system. The adversary will also be employing counter-PNT systems, and those adversary systems must be thwarted.”
A National Core Resilient PNT Architecture
GPS and one or two easily adoptable complementary and backup PNT systems could constitute a national core resilient PNT architecture. Senior administration officials and policy documents have periodically called for systems to complement and back up GPS for the last two decades. In 2018, Congress enacted legislation requiring the Department of Transportation to establish a terrestrial timing system to help back up GPS.
Yet, highly diffused responsibility for civil PNT within the administration and the absence of a broad public demand for solutions has meant little progress. At the same time, America’s principal adversary, China, has established a highly effective and resilient PNT architecture that includes multiple satellite constellations, terrestrial broadcast, and hundreds of synchronized timing stations connected by 20,000 kilometers of fiber.
Golden Dome may provide the opportunity to overcome America’s bureaucratic challenge with PNT. The DoD is not responsible, nor does it budget for, systems to benefit and protect domestic infrastructure and applications. Yet a defense capability, like GPS, can also support civil users.
Highly resilient PNT is a key enabler for Golden Dome and for making a host of civil applications—autonomy, transportation, IT, telecom, and the like—more reliable and scalable. As Golden Dome solves its resilient PNT needs, it should also benefit civil users, making America even more efficient, safe and secure.
References
1. “Resilient PNT is Vital to Golden Dome Success” https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2020/07/20/gps-interference-crashed-a-survey-drone-in-the-uk-will-the-debate-resonate-in-the-us/
