by Canada’s military could have modern satellite coverage in the Arctic a decade sooner than planned if the federal government is willing to follow the example of other countries and embrace commercial options in space, a House of Commons committee has heard Monday.
Mike Greenley, chief executive officer of Canada’s MDA, told committee members that Canada has fallen behind the rest of the world from a “military space capability perspective” and is not working effectively with companies in the aerospace sector.
“As a result, our relevance in a rapidly changing geopolitical world is diminishing, and with it, our ability to protect and defend Canadians,” said Greenley, whose company is the largest in the country in the space sector, with over $ 1 billion. in sales annually.
One of the pressing problems facing defense officials is the rapidly aging chain of government-owned RADARSAT satellites.
The federal auditor general warned in late 2022 that those satellites could exceed their useful life by 2026 and that their replacement – called the Defense Enhanced Space Surveillance Project (DESSP) – is years away from retirement the land
The Liberal government promised dedicated military surveillance satellites in its 2017 defense policy and repeated the promise in its latest strategy document — but a defense department project status summary shows the multibillion-dollar program isn’t set to launch until “beyond 2035.”
Greenley said that the United States and the United Kingdom have taken an approach of building the space hardware they need, while buying the rest from the private sector.
Canada needs to start doing the same to avoid long delays in deploying critical military capabilities, he said.
Technicians turned on the second of three constellation satellites at the MDA facility on June 21, 2018 in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
“Canada needs communications in the North, Canada has identified procurement spending to buy space capacity for communications in the North circa 2038,” said Greenley.
“Meanwhile, Telesat will launch a global communications capability with satellites built by MDA Space in 2027. If we were talking today, it could be configured to deliver military communications in the Arctic ten years faster as a commercial service – ten years more faster. “
The House of Commons defense committee is studying how the changing geopolitical and military dynamics on Earth are being reflected in outer space.
Reports suggest that Russia is planning to put a nuke into orbit
Of particular concern are reports that Russia plans to send a nuclear weapon into orbit to destroy satellites.
A top US State Department official told a Washington-based think tank audience last week that the Biden administration is concerned about one particular program, which Moscow claims is nothing more than a scientific program to test electronics.
“The United States is very concerned that Russia may be considering the incorporation of nuclear weapons into its anti-space programs, based on information that is considered credible,” said Mallory Stewart, who is the assistant secretary for arms control, deterrence and stability.
A soldier holds a machine gun as he patrols Russia’s northern military base on Kotelny island, outside the Arctic Circle, on April 3, 2019. (Maxime Popov/AFP/Getty Images)
She spoke on Friday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“The United States has been aware of Russia’s pursuit of this type of capability going back many years, but has only recently been able to more accurately assess its progress,” Stewart said.
She added that the capability is not active and not deployed, but nevertheless “Russia is very worried about achieving this capability.
“There is no immediate threat.”
Brig.-Gen. Mike Adamson, commander of the recently formed 3rd Canadian Space Division.
He said the reports are troubling and that the Canadian military is working with the US Space Force and Space Command to understand the technology and its implications.
“We don’t currently believe there is any imminent threat,” Adamson told the House defense committee last week.
“Probably worth mentioning as well [that] International law prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons in space. So this would be a direct violation of that and certainly defy the accepted norms of behavior that we would expect from any spacefaring nation.”
For the past seven years, the Canadian military has been looking for ways to protect its satellites from being shot down or disabled.
Before the threat of a nuclear device in space (which could seriously affect and even destroy some satellites), western militaries were focusing their attention on land-based rockets being developed by Russia and China to pick up key communication and command devices. in orbit.
