Maritime dominance depends on many operational assets that enable our two most critical missions—land attack and theater air dominance—and the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) is likely to be one of the keys.
Vice Admiral John S. Redd, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5), noted recently that the Navy’s concept of maritime dominance is the seagoing component of dominant maneuver, one of Joint Vision 2010’s operational concepts. JSTARS, more than any other joint system, can extend maritime dominance ashore as the Navy’s contribution to dominant maneuver and—another Joint Vision 2010 concept—precision engagement.
JSTARS information provided directly to a joint task force in the littorals could increase the speed and tempo of aircraft or cruise-missile strike operations. The all-weather, near real-time, 24-hour ground-target information from a forward- deployed asset would enable the Navy to sustain lethal fire against shore and inland targets for extended periods from dispersed locations while reengaging as necessary. The system already has demonstrated some of its capabilities in two significantly different deployments: Operations Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf and Joint Endeavor in Bosnia.
Although there was no direct JSTARS-naval force link during either operation, data-link and communications paths similar to those used in Joint Endeavor are feasible for transmitting surveillance and targeting information directly to sea-based forces in support of carrier-based strike aircraft plus current and planned land-attack surface platforms: the Arsenal Ship and Surface Combatant 21. Weapons such as Tomahawk, a Navy version of the Army Tactical Missile System, or a Global Positioning System-based extended-range guided munition need to be able to achieve their accuracies using JSTARS information.
With some additional development, the JSTARS radar could be adapted to enable surface forces to monitor littoral waters, increasing force protection and enabling more rapid response against asymmetric sea-based threats. In short, JSTARS has the potential to:
- Directly increase the effectiveness of Navy land-attack missions.
- Indirectly increase the effectiveness of Navy theater ballistic missile defense systems by targeting moving and fixed adversary launchers prior to launch through a direct input to Aegis/SM-2 Block IVA/cooperative engagement concept platforms.
► Simultaneously enhance the offensive and defensive posture of joint task forces supporting operations ashore.
During Joint Endeavor, JSTARS aircraft flew daily orbits over Hungary, Croatia, and the Adriatic to provide support to each of the multinational division commanders. Once commanders understood its capabilities, the system was tasked regularly by NATO’s Combined Air Operations Center in Vicenza, Italy, which integrated the commanders’ proposed tasking in the daily air-tasking message. JSTARS provided a radar picture of terrain, including tracked and wheeled vehicles and fixed ground targets, extending well beyond 100 kilometers from the aircraft.
The radar picture was rebroadcast via satellite from the ground master station to other ground stations beyond-line-of-sight of the aircraft, enabling planners at San Vito, Italy; Kaposvar, Hungary; Frankfurt, Germany; and other locations in Bosnia and Italy to monitor the ground situation in Bosnia for the 10-11 hours the aircraft was on station. This distributed architecture should be extended to include naval forces in the littorals.
Because of success on the ground, JSTARS capability to support target attacks by either fixed- wing air or artillery was not needed. Nevertheless, as noted in both the U.S. Commander-in-Chief Europe’s “JSTARS After Action Report” and in the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation’s (DOT&E’s) “Beyond Low-Rate Initial Production" (BLRIP) Report—and despite a number of operational limitations—the JSTARS moving target indicator and fixed target indicator-synthetic aperture radar provided information on a wide range of potential targets.
If the Navy had the capability to receive information and imagery directly via the surveillance and control data link, or indirectly via satellite communications, strike planners on board the flagship, carrier or an Aegis cruiser or destroyer in the Adriatic, would have been able to execute attacks while minimizing the risk to both carrier and land based attack aircraft. Most important, taking advantage of the capability JSTARS brings to joint operations—particularly those in regions such as the Balkans, Persian Gulf, and Korea—would enable the Navy to contribute more to the joint control of the breadth, depth, and height of the littoral battlespace.
Captain Moeller, who commanded the USS Belknap (CG-26) during Operations Provide Promise and Deny Flight, led the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation’s operational test and evaluation effort to evaluate JSTARS during Operation Joint Endeavor.