A more practical approach to denying an enemy use of his space-based assets may be to jam the communication links between the satellites and the ground stations. Since this approach would not damage the satellites, the fact that they may be owned by third parties would be less of a factor. Jamming the communications between satellites and their ground stations may prove difficult because the large antennas used by ground stations are highly directional and jam - ming them could require inordinate amounts of power. An additional problem would be positioning the jamming platform within line of sight of the target ground station. Such an approach would be contingent on having total air supremacy, a condition that may not always prevail. Some satellite dependent communication systems, on the other hand, are easier to jam. These systems rely on lower power, nondirectional antennas on the ground, and sensitive receivers on the satellite. Operational problems with current SATCOM systems indicate that high-power jamming of a satellite may be sufficient to block communications.

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Spacy, William L. Does the United States Need Space-Based Weapons?. Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Air University, September 1999. [ 11 quotes ] [ page 56 ]