Eyes in the Sky
Over a century and a half ago, the famous Prussian military analyst, Karl von Clausewitz, spoke of the "fog of war." He meant that in war, even quite ordinary bits of information---like where the foe is---can be impossible to get. The whole point of a battle is to kill your enemies, but you can't do that if you can't find them first.To combat the fog, advanced armed forces depend on orbiting telescopes. These spyglasses can cost more than five hundred million dollars and are probably far superior to the civilian Hubble telescope. And, while the Hubble looks up, all of them look down. Circling the earth scores of kilometers overhead, on a clear day some of these monster spyeyes can spot things on the ground as small as five centimeters across---about the width of a pack of cigarettes. Some, using heat detectors and light amplifiers, can see at night.
Besides the telescopes, there are radar and radio satellites and several microwave and laser communication satellites. The radar satellites see through clouds, smoke, and dust and can discover objects buried up to three meters underground. Some of the radio satellites can eavesdrop on cellular-phone conversations around the world. Others can detect submarines deep in the ocean by measuring heat and magnetic disturbances. Several satellites help fix the positions of things on the planet's surface to within a few meters. In the close quarters of combat, troops might need to call in an airstrike or artillery barrage on an enemy unit only a few hundred meters away. In war, it's vitally important to know exactly where you are.
During wartime, advanced nations also use three-hundred-million-dollar air traffic and ground-surveillance aircraft. Each of these planes can replace the control tower of an entire major airport. They can track, identify, and disentangle over a thousand jets flying close together. Their radar can see small low-flying aircraft from three hundred kilometers away and large high-flying aircraft from six hundred kilometers away. Others can look down on a battlefield to track and identify every moving thing within five hundred square kilometers. For the first time in history, some military commanders can see, identify, and pinpoint everything on, below, and above the battlefield.
In future wars, aircraft might sprinkle tiny, cheap, and mobile noise, heat, light, radio, magnetic, and seismic detectors all over the battlefield. Commanders could then have a soldier's view, a tank's view, a pilot's view, and a satellite's view of a battle as it happens. Such technology could also give troops a nearly indestructible cellular-phone system. Orbiting satellites and other such technology are the eyes and ears of a modern military. Without them, modern armed forces are blind, deaf, mute, and lost. All are the result of the ever-increasing speed, power, and miniaturization of computers.
So, for a time, the fog of war is lifting----at least for a modern military facing a less-advanced one. But it will be back. Because all armed forces are keen to develop a means to jam, confuse, or destroy the current detection technology. Many of the secret satellites orbiting above are antisatellites---intended to destroy other satellites in time of war. So future battlefields will inevitably become as confused as they were in Clausewitz's time and the first salvos of any future battle between modern nations will have to start in space.
On the Bleeding Edge