Mobile Satellite Communications Handbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3Early Proposals for Mobile Satellite Communications

3.1 Military Interest in Mobile Satellite Communications

Well before the launch of the first communications satellites by the Soviet and US defense organizations in the late 1950s, military planners had theorized over the possible use of satellites to enhance military communications. Communications is a critically important function in any military organization at any time, but by the 1950s and 1960s, it became a particular subject of interest in the United States for several reasons. First, a large number of bases located around the world created a massive need for communication links among various headquarters that could not be fulfilled by the radio telephone and coaxial undersea cable technologies of the 1950s. Second, increased tensions in United States–Soviet relations resulted in a greater concern over US military readiness and war-fighting capabilities. But by the late 1950s, tactical or field communications capabilities had not changed much since World War II, even though almost everything else in the field was faster and more powerful. Third, the development of mobile nuclear weapons systems, such as bombers and submarines that were theoretically under the immediate control of the President, highlighted the lack of reliable global communication, particularly for mobile applications.

In these respects, the lack of reliable communications capabilities was serving as a drag on the most effective use of a wide ...