Laser data beam will test the US to deal with Russia and China

By Boyko Nikolov

WASHINGTON, BM – Communication during a reconnaissance mission or battle is essential to the success of a mission. But the type of communication methods used depends on the type of opponent. The United States has no problems when attack or reconnaissance drones carry out their missions over technically backward territories. Examples are Iraq or Afghanistan. But how do you counteract if at some point you face an opponent as advanced in this area as you are?

The US space force, along with the military and General Atomics, will try to change the way we communicate and take precedence over countries like Russia or China, which continue to be real threats to Americans.

In the coming days, a satellite produced by General Atomics will be launched into orbit, which will have to start tests of data transfer to the drone using a laser beam. General Atomics is ​​the manufacturer of the famous attack drone and “hunter-killer” MQ-9 Ripper. The launch will take place on June 24 at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch vehicle will be SpaceX Falcon 9, and the mission is rideshare and is calling Transporter 2.

According to a press release from General Atomics, satellites for the Transporter 2 mission have already been delivered to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

What is LINCS?

LINCS or Laser Interconnect and Networking Communication System is a program of General Atomics. According to Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, the future lies in optical communication, and the upcoming tests will mark the beginning of an “evolution” in communication.

The satellites developed by General Atomics are two 12U units that host dual-wavelength and infrared optical communication terminals. During the tests, satellites will have to show whether they can transmit a certain amount of data in two ways – optically or by the laser beam. If the test is successful, the United States will take a path that will give the Pentagon a significant advantage over its competitors.

Why is this important? Nowadays, such weapon systems communicate via radio signals. They are also the basis of some autonomous functions, which make them even more difficult to defeat. However, radio signals can easily be “hacked”, leading to problems.

That’s why the United States relies heavily on “laser” data transfer. According to Derek Tournear, the head of the Space Development Agency, laser communication could provide “a very high bandwidth, low latency, low probability of jam communication network to be able to go down to any platform, whether it is on the surface, whether it be on a ship, or whether it be on air.”

The Pentagon, the US space force, and many experts are very upset by the upcoming tests. According to DefenseOne, they will start next year. It seems that General Atomics’ LINCS satellites can usher in a new era in communication, including in our daily lives.

The reason is the progress of Russia and China

According to Washington, Russia and China have made significant progress in developing electronic warfare systems. This statement was presented in a report recently by the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. “The Russian military is more technologically advanced than the U.S. realized and is rapidly developing artificial intelligence capabilities to gain battlefield information advantage,” the report said.

The report draws attention to the analysis that Russians have made of military conflicts in recent decades around the world. And although funding is small, as it comes mainly from the state and this is a problem, Moscow has made progress in developing autonomous devices. The Pentagon is also paying close attention to Russia’s progress in the field of artificial intelligence.

The Pentagon believes that Syria has played a key role in the progress of the Russians in developing autonomous devices and, accordingly, effective systems for waging electronic warfare. According to the report, more than 140,000 flying hours on 23,000 drones were performed by the Russians and note – from 2018 until today.

China has also made progress in the field of autonomous devices and artificial intelligence. Although the information is scarce and the Communist Party in the country censors what comes out as news, sometimes the “information brush” misses something important. We recently announced that China is already beginning to train its pilots in a simulator powered by artificial intelligence.

Without knowing exactly what this simulator is, the news itself tells us that China is working in the field of artificial intelligence.

What to watch?

BulgarianMilitary.com is starting to monitor in detail the information concerning the development of this type of communication. We start on June 24 with the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the start of the Transporter 2 mission. Watch live here on the site the launch of the Falcon.

In the coming months, if you want to get access to all the information about Laser Interconnect and Networking Communication, follow us on social media or use the search engine on the site by entering the keyword LINCS.

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