I spent six months embedded with the Londo Bell tactical analysis division at Side 1 in UC 0087, reverse-engineering the engagement logs from the Gryps campaign. What emerged was not subtle: every engagement where a single EFSF command ship routed sensor feeds through a centralized CIC suffered a median 2.8-second data stall between initial contact and fleet-wide alert. In vacuum, 2.8 seconds is the difference between first sight and first hit.
The Hub-and-Spoke Problem in Microgravity
Centralized architectures assume a stable relay topology — an assumption that disintegrates the moment Minovsky particle density exceeds 40% saturation. When your primary comms node goes dark, every subordinate unit reverts to local sensor range, effectively halving your engagement envelope. Mesh nets do not route; they gossip. Each node broadcasts its scan data to every peer within line-of-sight, and the network converges on a shared threat picture without any single point of arbitration.
Tightbeam latency between nodes is the only variable that matters. Everything else is a UX problem.
The Anaheim Electronics testbed at Luna II validated this in UC 0088 using six Jegan-type sensor packages deployed across Lagrange 3. Under jamming conditions that would cripple a conventional C2 stack, the mesh maintained 94% threat-track continuity. The cost? Bandwidth overhead of 12% per node. That is it.