Bomber crews, tank commanders, infantry officers and special operations troops who fought in Iraq during the past 16 months are telling leaders and defense contractors that space-related capabilities are invaluable during combat ops, but improvements are needed. During the first Space Warfare Symposium here, a Junior Warfighter Panel comprising six officers from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force gave a no-holds-barred accounting of what did and didn't work during their missions in Iraq. Comments were frank and uncensored, prompting senior officers to ask that panel members' names not be disclosed. Panelists agreed satellite communications, GPS navigation, space-derived weather and "blue-force tracking" (BFT) units were critical to carrying out missions. But they asked military acquisition officials and defense contractors to increase equip- ment reliability, while reducing size and weight considerably.
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