Military's Fighting -- For More Bandwidth; Use of Predator planes among factors boosting communications needs.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA

A new traffic jam has some in the military worried, but the congestion isn't on the ground. It's in space, as branches of the armed forces compete to use bandwidth from military satellites.

Because of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, demand is soaring for space-based digital "pipes" that relay data for U.S. forces.

"Bandwidth is always a problem," said Benjamin Harrison, chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command Open Source Exploitation Branch, at a recent conference in Washington. His unit provides intelligence for unmanned aerial vehicles like the Predator.

The crunch is so bad the military's turning more to commercial satellite …