Not long ago, before Enron's fall from grace, a satellite communications (SatCom) venture called Iridium was one of the most highly publicized bankruptcies in the United States. There were stories of satellites falling from the sky, meltdown of the company's entire satellite constellation as it spiraled into the economic abyss, and thousands of useless satellite phones out in the market-place. Well, to paraphrase the old saying, stories of Iridium's demise were greatly exaggerated.
In fact, Iridium LLC went bankrupt in 1999, but not because of technological failures. It was mostly a victim of declines in the communications industry and bad market timing. The technology of the system was—and remains—an incredible scientific achievement. When the old Iridium launched its services, the cell phone industry had grown larger and faster than anyone expected, and the market was flooded. The company's huge developmental expenditure (nearly $6 billion) forced it to go after a large wireless mass market to regain its investment.
A group of private investors led by Dan Colussy, the former head of Pan American Airlines, saw the opportunity and bought the company out of bankruptcy for a mere $25 million. At the same time, the new owners secured a two-year, $72-million contract with the Department of Defense (DoD). To the contrary of all rumors, the new Iridium has made significant growth in the commercial and military sectors. Its satellite constellation—now operated under a contract with Boeing Company—has undergone technology upgrades that have extended its life to 2014 and possibly beyond.
There are 66 operational satellites in the constellation, with 13 in-orbit spares, including 7 spares launched in 2002. These spares will help the constellation maintain operational health and longevity. At its own expense, Iridium plans to develop and determine requirements for the company to implement the next series of satellites to continue to grow and provide services after 2014. Although, the term is bandied about far too loosely, the system's interoperable handheld devices truly are transformational. They provide communications for functions ranging from special operations forces (SOFs), to conventional ground, sea, and air forces, to logistics, to morale calls. It can be voice, or tied to a personal data assistant (PDA) or laptop computer for data transfer, and video tests are under way.
Iridium in Afghanistan
Iridium handheld satellite telephones with secure-voice sleeves proved operationally invaluable to the various SOFs that conducted diverse operations in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Army special operations officers noted that the Defense Information Systems Agency worked closely with the SOFs to outfit and manage Iridium assets throughout OEF.
The U.S. liaison teams carried Iridium units during all operations with the Northern Alliance. The rugged terrain and wide dispersal of SOF teams accelerated the importance of satellite communication systems.
The Air Force Special Operations Command's communications team was key to U.S. Special Operations Command's strategic communications during OEF. Their innovative approach to assembling small, easily transportable communications packages set the standard—and the Iridium initial communications element was a clear winner. The system gave SOFs an early-entry, light-weight, multichannel SatCom system and terminal equipment for initial communications at several undeveloped staging bases.
Iridium in Iraq
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) highlighted that Iridium is a high-technology communications resource critical to today's armed forces. It provided reliable secure-voice communications for the National Security Agency and data transfers to and from mobile PDAs and laptops. Iridium handsets linked to a PDA or laptop can bring the Web to anywhere on earth. In addition to military usage, the system's satellites brought the war directly into U.S. homes, as civilian reporters called in minute-by-minute reports using Iridium phones.
Iridium saw DoD use on its network increased fourfold in the first quarter of 2003. A multitude of highly capable broader band communications equipment is in use in Iraq, but much of it is not interoperable and requires line-of-sight (LOS) conditions to be effective and reliable. Marine units were constantly on the move and LOS communications was not always an option. Thus, their only consistently reliable way to communicate was by SatCom. In the fast-paced initial phase of combat, if a communications system did not work quickly, alternative steps were taken immediately—and Iridium was the only system continually praised by the Marines. Without using applications such as Blue Force Tracker-which aided in troop coordinationand secure-voice communications, their combat units would have found themselves without tactical communications. I talked to senior Marine commanders about lessons learned in OIF, and several of them see mobile SatCom as the wave of the future for Marine tactical units. Similarly, Navy senior officers told me that Iridium was used whenever U.S. forces absolutely had to have reliable communications.
Where To from Here?
One by one, the services are discovering the tactical value of Iridium. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory has been aggressive in pushing for and developing the Expeditionary Warfare Tactical Communications System (ETCS), known also as "push-to-talk" or "netted voice." The laboratory wants secure-voice and data communications over the horizon with no single point in the system—for example, an aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle, or ground station-that will cause failure. The lab is pursuing "ganging" multiples of four Indium handsets to give streaming video to PDAs or laptops. General Dynamics Decision Systems has demonstrated this capability already.
Iridium launched new short burst data (SBD) and short message services in June 2003. This capability allows applications for asset tracking that will enable military units to track key assets that "last mile" to the beach or to the objective. Coupled with the Global Positioning System, SBD can be used by units and platforms that have been shortchanged in tactical communications. For example, amphibious assault vehicles and remote sensor sites could have real-time reporting and location capabilities. Iridium does not compete with broadband satellite communications. Ships that do not have broadband capabilities, however, can install a small antenna and tie it into the ship's phone switch.
Admiral Wisely, a naval aviator, retired in 1994. He is a defense consultant in Scottsdale, Arizona.