...Military Uses of Space Based Solar Power...NSSO study

National Security Space Office

Space-Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security
Phase 0 Architecture Feasibility Study

"For the DoD specifically, beamed energy from space in quantities
greater than 5 MWe has the potential to be a disruptive game changer
on the battlefield. SBSP and its enabling wireless power transmission
technology could facilitate extremely flexible "energy on demand" for
combat units and installations across an entire theater, while significantly
reducing dependence on vulnerable over-land fuel deliveries. SBSP
could also enable entirely new force structures and capabilities such
as ultra long-endurance airborne or terrestrial surveillance or combat
systems to include the individual soldier himself. More routinely, SBSP
could provide the ability to deliver rapid and sustainable
humanitarian energy to a disaster area or to a local population
undergoing nation-building activities. SBSP could also facilitate base
"islanding" such that each installation has the ability to operate
independent of vulnerable ground-based energy delivery infrastructures.
In addition to helping American and allied defense establishments remain
relevant over the entire 21st Century through more secure supply lines,
perhaps the greatest military benefit of SBSP is to lessen the chances
of conflict due to energy scarcity by providing access to a strategically
secure energy supply."

"Considering the development timescales that are involved, and the
exponential growth of population and resource pressures within that
same strategic period, it is imperative that this work for "drilling up" vs.
drilling down for energy security begins immediately."

http://www.space-frontier.org/Presen...sesment0.1.pdf