Military communications

The history of military communications over long distances is a search for competitive advantage over enemies. Such systems must perform well in war. The success of a campaign, the lives of soldiers, and even the fate of nations often depend on the technologies of war. Commanders rely on communications systems to help them make informed battle plans and control their troops. Field troops need the information to implement commanders’ tactics on the battlefield and take advantage of their enemies’ errors in judgment and weaknesses. Successful communications must be secure from enemy espionage.

Written Communications

Writing was the first and, for a long time, almost the only means for storing information and transmitting it accurately from one person to another. Without writing, the command and control of large armies such as those fielded by the ancient Greeks and Romans would have been virtually impossible. Until the advent of visual codes, communications between ships was a complicated affair. Stormy weather often hindered naval communications.

Until approximately 1500 c.e., the primary means of communication on the battlefield was messengers on foot or horseback, often working as part of an established relay system. To protect messengers from bandits and other enemies, Babylonian kings placed royal guards at regular distances along major roads. The kings also equipped each stop with fire beacons so that warning signals passed quickly from station to relay station, eliminating the need for runners. These messengers were relatively slow, somewhat unreliable, and vulnerable to enemy attack. Messengers sometimes arrived after their intelligence had outlived its usefulness. Although they could answer questions about the message, they were not always accurate in their interpretation.

Other message delivery systems included bells, bugles, cymbals, drums, horns, homing pigeons, and trumpets. The military also communicated by flags, shields polished to act as mirrors, signal guns, and smoke signals. These means of communication were virtually instantaneous but handicapped by the need for prearranged signals the message receiver would understand.

Limitations on Command

Relatively primitive communications systems limited the options of commanders. After the issuance of orders for battle, military leaders had little ability to direct their troops in combat. Commanders might not even know if their army had won or lost the battle. Faced with this challenge, generals either sent their troops into battle in a massed formation or phalanx or instructed soldiers to fight one on one. Limited communications meant few commanders could effectively mass armies in excess of 100,000 or direct a line of fighters more than four miles wide.

Improvements in the technology of communications gave commanders more control on the battlefield. Around 1610, Hans Lippershey invented the telescope at Middelburg in the Netherlands. The telescope extended the distance humans could see. In the 1650’s, the English scientist Robert Hooke developed a revolutionary idea of using an optical telegraph system using semaphores. It was not until 1794 that the first such system to communicate by sight over long distances was constructed in France.

The development of steam transportation—including steamboats and railroads—significantly expanded the military’s ability to command troops over vast areas.

The first practical and significant advance in military technology was the invention of the telegraph in 1840 by Samuel F. B. Morse. In 1843, Morse and Alfred N. Vail developed Morse code, a system of dots and dashes representing letters, numbers, and punctuation. Seventeen years after the invention of the telegraph, reporters covering the American Civil War sent their battle dispatches to their newspapers by telegraph. During the late 1850’s and 1860’s, a U.S. Army surgeon, Albert James Meyer, developed a system of flag telegraphy (called wigwag) to communicate over great distances without the limitations of telegraph wires.

In 1858, the Atlantic cable established instantaneous communications across the ocean. Although it failed a few days later, cables laid in 1866 were successful.

War Talk

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, state-of-the-art military communications took a leap forward with the invention of the telephone and radio. The advent of wireless technology (or radio) marked a significant development in electronic warfare. The military gained the ability to intercept and read enemy communications as well as prevent the messages from being received. Other technological advances in electronic warfare included the ability to locate enemy strongholds, track enemy movements, and launch surprise attacks.

The first attempted use of wireless telegraphy occurred during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902 in South Africa. Voice communication became possible in 1906. By the end of World War I in 1918, military communications were truly global as undersea marine telephone cables grew in number.

Radios, originally designed for use in World War I, were not widely used by the U.S. Army until 1922. Because early radio signals were relatively easy to intercept, new codes were developed. Invention of the shortwave transmitter meant combatants could communicate inexpensively over great distances. These radios were small enough to fit in submarines, planes, and tanks, which earlier radios could not. Shortwave radios gave commanders the ability to control their troops over large areas.

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the U.S. Navy focused on developing sonar to map the oceans and detect other ships in the vicinity. Radar enabled the detection of radio signals, which meant commanders could locate and track their enemies.

Between World War I and World War II, military communications equipment advanced to the point where communication over long distances was instantaneous. People did not have to see each other to communicate. New encoding and decoding machines such as the British Typex and the American Sigaba reduced the probability of signal interception and decoding.

The impact of shortwave radios on military strategy and tactics was significant. Using radios, commanders could coordinate massive bombing raids and blitzkrieg attacks to overwhelm enemies by their lightning speed and surprise. By 1939, radio allowed for communication between military vehicles on the move and between troops in the field and their commanders at headquarters. Portable radios also allowed generals to see for themselves how the battle was going and adjust strategy.

Another advance in communications technology occurred during World War II (1939–1945). U.S. soldiers and their families were able to talk with each other at great distances because of the telephone. Scientists at American Telephone and Telegraph Bell Labs invented a secure communications system between the United States and England. In 1944, the use of digitally encoded messages enabled President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill to plan a joint strategy without fear of the Nazis eavesdropping on their conversations. During the Korean War (1950–1953), walkie-talkies enhanced communication between frontline troops and regimental headquarters.

Satellite Communications and the Internet

In the mid-1940’s, the British science fiction writer and scientist Sir Arthur C. Clarke suggested the feasibility of communications satellites. He foresaw that satellites would permit one- and/or two-way delivery of voice, video, and data. The dawn of a new era in the history of military communications occurred on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik 1. Satellites made global audio and visual communications possible.

The idea for a linked computer network communicating over existing phone lines came from J. C. R. Licklider, director of the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1962. He used the term intergalactic network to describe what eventually became the Internet. In 1969, the U.S. Department of Defense created a large network of computers guaranteed to work even if part of the network was damaged or destroyed in a nuclear war. ARPANET, the network that would link U.S. military scientists and other researchers, would enable the needed communication. ARPANET was the precursor of the Internet. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, nonmilitary scientists logged onto the system to share data. In late 1989, Tim Berners-Lee of the European Particle Physics Laboratory, known as CERN, applied the concept of hyperlinks, which enabled users to jump from one page to another without fussing with complicated computer commands. Hyperlinks led to the development of the World Wide Web. In 1993, Marc Andreessen and a team of students and technologists at the University of Illinois developed Mosaic, one of the first web browsers, which made the Web accessible to anyone with a personal computer. Andreessen later founded Netscape Communications, which initially sold a Web browser.

Even more sophisticated satellite communications systems made it possible for a single soldier to communicate directly with headquarters and pinpoint his or her position to within a few feet. The system is called the Global Positioning System (GPS). The U.S. Defense Department’s advanced communications system, Milstar, was the first satellite system to allow all branches of the U.S. Armed Services to communicate with each other on a secure network. It was also the first to operate at extremely high frequencies, and the first to provide satellite-to-satellite communications. Milstar’s operational advantage is that its satellites operate without ground station relays, while significantly enhancing data security and jam resistance. Military intelligence analysts rely heavily on communications intelligence (COMINT), which is the intercepting, processing, and reporting of an enemy’s communications, including cellular telephone and long-distance telephone calls. Satellites and specially equipped airplanes, submarines, and various ships and boats as well as covert and clandestine sites collect this intelligence for analysis. COMINT collection gives military planners insights into the strategies and tactics of people, organizations, equipment, facilities, procedures, schedules, budgets, and operations. COMINT can provide insight into an enemy’s negotiating and military strategies and tactics. Russians lost their first major battle of World War I—the Battle of Tannenberg—primarily because the Germans intercepted Russian high-frequency radio communications. Communications intelligence played a significant role in the U.S. victory against the Japanese navy at Midway Island and with the British success at breaking the German Enigma codes.

Technological advances in military communications systems have given commanders greater control over soldiers in the battlefield. Using advanced communications systems, commanders can go to the battlefield and move to where they can influence the combat without being cut from their staff and other intelligence sources. Troops can more easily communicate frontline intelligence back to headquarters.

The increased mobility, firepower, and complexity of modern warfare demand that communications systems support the command and control systems used by military commanders. Military communications have advanced to the point where commanders can communicate with any soldier or aircraft in the world, providing they have the proper equipment and training to operate it. Unmanned drones carrying television cameras, sensors, and other electronic equipment can communicate intelligence back to the commanders.

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