FIGURE D.7 Notional high-bandwidth hybrid network with optical and radio-frequency (RF) links.

turn act as a communications hub for smaller ships in its neighborhood. These ships may be linked by near-Earth RF links running as a peer-to-peer wireless network. For example, the JTRS Wideband Network Waveform may be used in this way. Elevated assets may be included in the mix in order to achieve beyond-line-of-sight connectivity from the large-deck hub to smaller platforms. In this approach, only the large-deck ships require their own large satellite aperture; smaller platforms then achieve high-bandwidth communications with the relatively small, nonstabilized antennas used by wireless ad hoc networks.

In summary, it would be a great mistake to analyze or acquire space communications capability in isolation from other naval communications capabilities. Hybrid space/near-Earth communications networks are likely to provide much higher performance, and much greater robustness, than an all-satellite approach, and may become a necessary component of future naval communications systems.