Should Non Department of Defense Meteorological Satellites Be Used to Meet Department of Defense Environmental Requirements?

This study investigated whether the Department of the Defense (DOD) policy should include civil, foreign, or commercial meteorological satellites to meet DOD objective environmental requirements. The study investigated if non DOD meteorological satellites can fulfill the DOD's need, United States (US) and DOD policy applicable to weather satellites, the cost savings of leveraging coalition assets vice commercial or additional US assets, and the risks of using non DOD assets to meet operational objectives. The study identified the basic DOD requirements for environmental data, available civil, foreign, and commercial meteorological satellites, along with their capabilities and limitations to meet the requirements, US and DOD policy, and the available international agreements, which impacts the risks of using foreign assets. DOD requirements are broken into spatial and temporal resolutions and threshold and objective requirements. In determining the optimal solution, the study identified alternate solutions, including foreign, commercial, or additional US assets, which could be used for DOD needs. The study discussed the alternative's capabilities and limitations along with cost considerations of utilization. The study concludes that DOD policy should include civil, foreign, and commercial meteorological satellites to meet objective requirements and requires a system of METSAT systems, which delivers a constellation of polar-orbiting and geostationary METSATs designed as a space architecture.