Evaluation of three alternatives for improving U.S. Navy SHF satellite communications afloat

The U.S. Navy is faced with significant, complex requirements for communications to support the effective command and control (C2) of its forces. The satisfaction of these requirements is constrained by a number of factors including a shrinking defense budget. SHF satellite communications (SATCOM) provides the communications backbone for DoD C2 communications. The Navy’s use of SHF SATCOM to support its at-sea commanders is limited, but could be improved significantly with the implementation of three upgrades. Because of funding constraints, the implementation of these improvements may be phased over time. It is important, then, to understand the relative importance of these enhancements so that they may be implemented in their relative order of importance.

This project and report provides a systems level perspective and analysis of U.S. Navy use of SHF SATCOM to support the command and control of afloat forces and uses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to assess the relative merit of proposed enhancements.