The Pentagon launched the PLEO program last year (Proliferated Low Earth Orbit), which consists of using the services of constellations of communications satellites in low orbit, such as Starlink from SpaceXSpaceXsoon Kuiper d’AmazonAmazonBluebirds from AST Space Mobile, or around twenty other similar services. Why has the PLEO budget exploded so much?
Resilience and simplicity
ResilienceResilience : the theater of military operations on the ground, in the air or at sea is dependent on a good network of satellites to ensure communication where no other is available. Recent espionage and intimidation maneuvers by Russia and China, targeting telecommunications satellites in geostationary orbit, have highlighted their fragility and the risk in the event of loss. However, a constellation of satellites like StarlinkStarlink has become perfectly resilient to this type of attack. If a satellite is lost, service will be transferred to one of many others.
Simplicity: installing a Starlink antenna is so simple that the Pentagon has deemed the need for training to use the service optional, which just requires “ connect the antenna and point it towards the sky ».
Explosion in demand for armies
The various armed forces of the United States began to request the services of these constellations to a much greater extent. These requests motivated this impressive and very welcome increase in the budget. Many have been attracted by the use of Starlink in Ukraine.
Another reason for this strong enthusiasm is that low orbit networks are accessible to latitudeslatitudes high, where the connection with satellites in geostationary orbit, positioned above theequatorequator terrestrial, becomes limited.
