Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025 A Research Paper Presented To Air Force 2025 by Col Tamzy J. House Lt Col James B. Near, Jr. LTC William B. Shields (USA) Maj Ronald J. Celentano Maj David M. Husband Maj Ann E. Mercer Maj James E. Pugh August 1996 ii Disclaimer 2025 is a study designed to comply with a directive from the chief of staff of the Air Force to examine the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States will require to remain the dominant air and space force in the future. Presented on 17 June 1996, this report was produced in the Department of Defense school environment of academic freedom and in the interest of advancing concepts related to national defense. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States government. This report contains fictional representations of future situations/scenarios. Any similarities to real people or events, other than those specifically cited, are unintentional and are for purposes of illustration only. This publication has been reviewed by security and policy review authorities, is unclassified, and is cleared for public release. iii Contents Chapter Page Disclaimer ..........................................................................................................................................ii Illustrations........................................................................................................................................iv Tables................................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................vi 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Required Capability............................................................................................................................ 3 Why Would We Want to Mess with the Weather? ........................................................................ 3 What Do We Mean by “Weather-modification”? .......................................................................... 4 3 System Description ............................................................................................................................. 8 The Global Weather Network....................................................................................................... 8 Applying Weather-modification to Military Operations ............................................................. 10 4 Concept of Operations ...................................................................................................................... 13 Precipitation ............................................................................................................................... 13 Fog.............................................................................................................................................. 16 Storms ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Exploitation of “NearSpace” for Space Control ......................................................................... 20 Opportunities Afforded by Space Weather-modification............................................................ 20 Communications Dominance via Ionospheric Modification ........................................................ 21 Artificial Weather....................................................................................................................... 27 Concept of Operations Summary ................................................................................................. 28 5 Investigation Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 31 How Do We Get There From Here? ........................................................................................... 31 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 34 Appendix Page A Why Is the Ionosphere Important? ..................................................................................................... 36 B Research to Better Understand and Predict Ionospheric Effects........................................................ 39 C Acronyms and Definitions ................................................................................................................. 41 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................... 42 iv Illustrations Figure Page 3-1. Global Weather Network.................................................................................................................... 9 3-2. The Military System for Weather-Modification Operations. ............................................................ 11 4-1. Crossed-Beam Approach for Generating an Artificial Ionospheric Mirror ...................................... 23 4-2. Artificial Ionospheric Mirrors Point-to-Point Communications ....................................................... 24 4-3. Artificial Ionospheric Mirror Over-the-Horizon Surveillance Concept. .......................................... 25 4-4. Scenarios for Telecommunications Degradation .............................................................................. 26 5-1. A Core Competency Road Map to Weather Modification in 2025. .................................................. 32 5-2. A Systems Development Road Map to Weather Modification in 2025............................................. 34 Tables Table Page 1 Operational Capabilities Matrix........................................................................................................vi v Acknowledgments We express our appreciation to Mr Mike McKim of Air War College who provided a wealth of technical expertise and innovative ideas that significantly contributed to our paper. We are also especially grateful for the devoted support of our fam ilies during this research project. Their understanding and patience during the demanding research period were crucial to the project’s success. vi Executive Summary In 2025, US aerospace forces can “own the weather” by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather-modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map. A high-risk, high-reward endeavor, weather-modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom. While some segments of society will always be reluctant to examine controversial issues such as weather-modification, the tremendous military capabilities that could result from this field are ignored at our own peril. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small-scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather-modification offers the war fighter a wide-range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. Some of the potential capabilities a weather-modification system could provide to a war-fighting commander in chief (CINC) are listed in table 1. Technology advancements in five major areas are necessary for an integrated weather-modification capability: (1) advanced nonlinear modeling techniques, (2) computational capability, (3) information gathering and transmission, (4) a global sensor array, and (5) weather intervention techniques. Some intervention tools exist today and others may be developed and refined in the future. vii Table 1 Operational Capabilities Matrix DEGRADE ENEMY FORCES ENHANCE FRIENDLY FORCES Precipitation Enhancement Precipitation Avoidance - Flood Lines of Communication - Maintain/Improve LOC - Reduce PGM/Recce Effectiveness - Maintain Visibility - Decrease Comfort Level/Morale - Maintain Comfort Level/Morale Storm Enhancement Storm Modification - Deny Operations - Choose Battlespace Environment Precipitation Denial Space Weather - Deny Fresh Water - Improve Communication Reliability - Induce Drought - Intercept Enemy Transmissions Space Weather - Revitalize Space Assets - Disrupt Communications/Radar - Disable/Destroy Space Assets Fog and Cloud Generation - Increase Concealment Fog and Cloud Removal Fog and Cloud Removal - Deny Concealment - Maintain Airfield Operations - Increase Vulnerability to PGM/Recce - Enhance PGM Effectiveness Detect Hostile Weather Activities Defend against Enemy Capabilities Current technologies that will mature over the next 30 years will offer anyone who has the n ecessary resources the ability to modify weather patterns and their corresponding effects, at least on the local scale. Current demographic, economic, and environmental trends will create global stresses that provide the impetus necessary for many countries or groups to turn this weather-modification ability into a capability. In the United States, weather-modification will likely become a part of national security policy with both domestic and international applications. Our government will pursue such a policy, depending on its interests, at various levels. These levels could include unilateral actions, participation in a security framework such as NATO, membership in an international organization such as the UN, or participation in a coalition. Assuming that in 2025 our national security strategy includes weather-modification, its use in our national military strategy will naturally follow. Besides the significant benefits an operational capability would provide, another motivation to pursue weather-modification is to deter and counter potential adversaries.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 04:13:56 +0000
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