Multinational Experiment 7: Protecting Access to Space
Abstract
Multinational Experiment (MNE) 7, Access to the Global Commons, was a complex, two-year, multinational and inter-agency effort designed to improve coalition capabilities relative to ensuring access to the global commons. We depend on space to enhance and enable a broad range of military, governmental, and commercial capabilities. However, our access to space is vulnerable to hazards and threats. So, we must adopt new strategies to assure necessary space capabilities. These strategies must be proactive, and develop the means to influence, deter, defend and mitigate the consequences of harmful actions in space. These issues are compounded by the fact that the capacity of space is finite. There is limited availability of useful orbits and consequently, they are congested. Furthermore, our reliance on space makes it a tempting target for potential actors, who may wish to negate economic or security advantages in other domains by disrupting space-enabled capabilities. A range of options exists to disrupt or deny the space, ground, and communication segments of space systems, thereby degrading space capabilities. We aim to provide a useful guide for senior leaders and managers, both civilian and military, in government and commercial organisations. This guide summarises the main outputs of the campaign. Chapter 1 provides the foundation while in Chapter 2 we propose a framework for protecting access to space, describing the potential consequences of disruption or denial of space capabilities and how to mitigate their loss. Annex A provides a summary of all the products. This guide should be read in conjunction our earlier publication, Space: Dependencies, Vulnerabilities and Threats.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 08, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA587376
Entities
Organizations
- Joint Chiefs of Staff