Survey Finds 68% of DoD Personnel Believe
Adversaries Will Match or Surpass U.S. Military Communications
Capabilities within Five Years; 77% Say Advanced Space-Based
Network Capabilities Are Needed for Future Fight
WASHINGTON and CARLSBAD, Calif., May 10, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Viasat Inc., (NASDAQ: VSAT) a global
communications company, today announced results from its Annual
State of Military Communications study conducted by the Government
Business Council (GBC), the research division of Government
Executive Media Group. Despite signs of improving U.S. defense
communications reliability, the survey points to growing concern
among Department of Defense (DoD) personnel about U.S. military
communications' capabilities being surpassed by adversaries and a
lack of current action being taken to address this challenge. A
copy of the complete survey report can be found here.
According to the third annual survey, more than two-thirds (68%)
of respondents said they believe near-peer adversaries will match
or surpass U.S. military communications capabilities within five
years, including 36% believing this will happen in the next two
years. In addition, nearly three-quarters (73%) of DoD respondents
believe that U.S. defense communication technologies are on par
with or falling behind those used by adversaries, which represents
a 13-percentage point increase from 2020.
These findings come despite DoD personnel also reporting greater
reliability in their own experience with defense communications.
More than half (52%) of respondents said they rarely or never
experience a complete loss in connectivity, a significant increase
from 34% in 2020 and 24% in 2019, indicating steady year-over-year
improvement in reliability. However, 85% of respondents still
reported experiencing at least one such disruption in the last
year.
Other key findings from the survey include:
Actions aren't aligned with beliefs yet on communications
improvements and value in commercial capability
- 83% of respondents said they believe improvements to defense
communications should be a top or high priority for their agency
compared with other priorities. Also, a majority (55%) of
respondents agreed commercial capabilities can deliver the same or
better levels of performance compared to DoD purpose-built
communications.
-
- Additionally, more than half of respondents (59%) agreed
increasing the use of commercial solutions is critical to
accelerating strategic initiatives like Joint All-Domaine Command
and Control (JADC2) or other joint warfighting programs.
- However, when asked if their agency would adopt commercial
defense communications technology and services in the next year to
keep pace with adversaries, just 33% said commercial communications
adoption was very (26%) or extremely (7%) likely to happen.
Similarly, just 35% of respondents said their agency was taking
advantage of new acquisition processes and mechanisms like OTAs and
as-a-service models to help update defense communications
technologies.
Space-based networks and commercial solutions needed for
future warfighting
- More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents agree the future
fight will require advanced space-based networking capability to
meet operational and mission needs. But, despite acknowledging the
importance of space networks, just 19% said their agency was
actively investing in advanced satellite communications to support
modern warfighter needs.
Cyber-attacks on defense communications
technology/infrastructure remain a challenge
- 40% of respondents feel their agency is adequately prepared for
a cyber-attack on defense communications technology/infrastructure.
While this may signal an improvement from 2020, when only 24% of
respondents were very or extremely confident in their agency's
preparedness for a cyber-attack on defense communications, it is
still concerning that nearly three in 10 respondents (28%) don't
think their agency is adequately prepared for such a
cyber-attack.
Next-gen technologies needed to advance defense
communications, but investment is lagging
- Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing and 5G technology
were the top technologies selected by respondents to advance
defense communications capabilities. However, active investment in
these technologies appears to be lagging with just 27% of
respondents saying their agency is actively investing in AI and 26%
in 5G. Cloud was the biggest priority next-gen technology, with 37%
saying their agency is actively investing in cloud to support
defense communications.
"In its third year, the State of Military Communications survey
highlights both encouraging and concerning trends surrounding the
future of U.S. military communications. Government is recognizing
the need to modernize defense communications and the value of
commercial capabilities," said Craig
Miller, president of Viasat Government Systems. "But
cultural change is often more difficult than technological change.
DoD personnel see adversaries closing the capabilities gap and know
new approaches are needed if the U.S. is going to maintain an
advantage. Multi-domain communications and data transport is not
only vital to missions, but it will likely be a deciding factor in
future conflicts."
A complete copy of the State of Military Communications survey
report is available online.
About the research and methodology
From August 2021 to January
2022, GBC deployed a survey to a random sample of military
government employees to measure change over time in the state of
military communications technology. This year's survey is the
latest of two previous iterations of the surveys deployed
August-September 2019 and
September-October 2020. Responses of
312 defense employees were captured after quality control and
screening, including 43% ranked GS-14 and above. Respondents
represent all branches of the military, with the greatest input
from the Army and Air Force.
About Government Business Council
As Government
Executive Media Group's research division, Government Business
Council (GBC) is dedicated to advancing the business of government
through analysis, insight and analytical independence. An extension
of Government Executive's 50 years of exemplary editorial
standards, GBC produces over 100 research initiatives each year,
studying influential decision-makers across all sectors in
government to provide invaluable insights, thought leadership
content and marketing intelligence for government contractors.
About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications
company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be
connected. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how
consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world
communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global
communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable,
fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are—on the
ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit:
www.viasat.com, go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the
Company on social media at:
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Copyright © 2022 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat,
the Viasat logo and the Viasat signal are registered trademarks of
Viasat, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used
for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
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SOURCE Viasat, Inc.