Securing the Stratosphere
Intelligence and Control Across the 15-100km Domain
Stratolia advises governments and aerospace leaders on defense and sovereignty in the near-space layer. Where conventional systems lose reach and emerging threats take shape.
The 15-100 km Security Mandate
The 2023 high-altitude incident made one fact clear: the stratosphere is not empty. It is a persistent, maneuverable, and poorly governed layer where legacy air defense, air policing, and surveillance concepts underperform. Nations must build domain awareness, rules of engagement, and response playbooks for 15-100 km or accept blind spots over their own territory.
Government & Defense Challenges
Detection Blind Spots
Legacy sensors are tuned for fast, dense targets. Slow, low-signature stratospheric systems sit below orbital tracking and above routine air patrols, creating gaps in cueing, tracking, and identification.
Sovereignty, ROE, and Attribution
Persistent overflight raises legal and diplomatic friction. Clear rules of engagement and attribution frameworks for the 15-100 km layer are required to deter, signal, and act without escalation error.
Operational Risks & Civil Protection
Persistent Overflight of Critical Areas
Long-dwell platforms can loiter over sensitive regions, collect at scale, and complicate incident response. Civil protection plans must include stratospheric monitoring, interdiction, and recovery procedures.
Windfield Exploitation and Denial
State-of-the-art trajectory planning exploits vertical wind shears to navigate hundreds of kilometers with precision. Resilience requires wind-aware domain awareness, counter-routing, and forecast-driven alerting using modern models and high-rate assimilation.
Strategic Consulting for the 15-100 km Domain
We support governments, defense ministries, and prime contractors in establishing domain awareness, credible deterrence, and lawful response options in the stratosphere. Our work spans intelligence, strategy, policy, and readiness—anchored in state-of-the-art wind analytics, platform knowledge, and sensor fusion. The objective is simple: remove blind spots, shorten decision cycles, and raise the cost of intrusion.
Continuous, policy-grade intelligence on the 15-100 km layer. We map platforms, programs, supply chains, and tactics to give decision-makers a live picture of capability, intent, and trajectory. Outputs feed procurement, ROE, and operational planning.
- Global program watch: balloons, HAPS, ISR payloads, launch and recovery
- Adversary capability and doctrine assessments with red-team challenge
- Windfield-aware trajectory forecasting and pattern-of-life analysis
- Early-warning indicators and decision support briefs (weekly/flash)
- Confidence scoring and source validation suited for ministerial use
Design end-to-end defense postures for the stratospheric domain. From sensing architectures to effectors and legal authorities, we help states close detection gaps, deter incursions, and respond with precision and proportionality.
- Coverage gap analysis across radar, EO/IR, RF, and passive networks
- Sensor fusion architectures and cueing concepts for slow, low-RCS targets
- Counter-stratospheric CONOPS: interdiction, recovery, and forensics
- Rules of engagement, escalation management, and attribution playbooks
- Exercises and war-gaming to validate forces, timelines, and cost curves
Protect critical systems from long-dwell stratospheric collection and interference. We profile vulnerability, simulate threat access using vertical wind shears, and design resilience measures that are realistic, testable, and budget-anchored.
- Vulnerability mapping of priority sites and corridors (civil and defense)
- Exposure modeling to RF/EO sensors using state-of-the-art wind models
- Deception, denial, and hardening options with cost-benefit trade-offs
- Operational readiness checks and red-team penetration trials
- Incident response: detect-track-attribute-recover procedures
Build the governance layer for 15-100 km. We align domestic law, bilateral arrangements, and international practice to enable lawful detection, interdiction, and evidence handling—without strategic miscalculation.
- Comparative legal analysis: airspace, sovereignty, and overflight norms
- Policy frameworks for licensing, notification, and cross-border coordination
- Attribution standards and evidence chains for state and non-state actors
- Procurement guidance and evaluation criteria for sovereign capability
- White papers and briefings for ministerial and parliamentary audiences
Condensed, actionable education for senior leaders. We train executives, joint staffs, and inter-agency teams on the technical realities, the operational art, and the political risks of the stratospheric domain.
- C-suite and ministerial briefings tailored to mandate and timelines
- Scenario planning and table-top exercises tied to national priorities
- Rapid decision frameworks under uncertainty (legal, kinetic, diplomatic)
- Technical primers on winds, sensors, and platform limitations
- After-action reviews and upgrade roadmaps within fiscal constraints
The Stratospheric Domain Demands Immediate Attention
Government agencies cannot afford to remain unprepared for stratospheric threats. Partner with Stratolia to develop comprehensive intelligence and strategic response capabilities.