From Signal Support To Secure MultiDomain Networks: Modernizing Military Communications Frameworks

This paper examines the evolving role of communication platforms in military operations, showing their shift from supportive instruments to critical enablers of rapid decision-making and mission success. It analyzes networked communication, signal support, cybersecurity, and the integration of joint and multinational forces, with particular focus on electromagnetic spectrum congestion, cyber threats, and secure transmission in contested environments. The results highlight its distinct non-interchangeability with broader models such as Strategic Communications (StratCom) and Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT), ensuring operational resilience, enhancing effectiveness, and offering adaptability to future innovations, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum encryption, and advanced satellite systems.