Vanguard Magazine

CoVer www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2018 13 steps needed to equip the Canadian Armed Forces including the space domain further. What steps are being taken to ensure that the acquisition of "space capabilities meant to improve situational awareness and targeting" are on track? Space projects, like all SSE projects, de- rive clear policy support from the recent defence policy. In addition, Strong, Se- cure, Engaged fully funded the estimated demand for both capital and operating defence funding over a twenty year time- frame. This was reinforced by the recent re- lease of the first investment plan ever to be made public by National Defence (see link at end). The resources necessary for project execution are being progressively added, and SSE projects benefit from prioritized access to departmental resources (such as analysts, costers). Overall, steady progress has been made in achieving the ambitious objectives set in the policy. Q The Request for Information (RFI) for the Surveillance of Space 2 (SofS 2) program, which will replace the Sap- phire satellite, was expected earlier this year. Since that didn't happen, when can industry expect this RFI to be out, and what new capabilities are being looked at in this acquisition that will differ from the Sapphire? Sapphire has been a tremendous success for Canada, and it remains the sole non- U.S. space-based contributing sensor in the Space Surveillance Network (SSN). The release of the RFI remains a high pri- ority, and our goal is to release it to indus- try as early in 2018 as possible. The in- tent is to improve upon the capability that Sapphire currently provides, and we look forward to industry proposals on how to achieve this. We also expect to explore the option of maneuverability for space-based options. Q The Request for Information (RFI) for the Enhanced Satellite Communica- tions Project - Polar (ESCP-P) project has just closed. What are the timelines for this project, and can you share with us some of the outcomes from Industry Day? First of all, thank you to all respondents. The information provided will be vital to the development of our Business Case Analysis – the next step in our project. The current timelines can be found in the online Defence Investment Plan (see link below). There you will note that we expect to start implementation no later than the 2023-24 timeframe, and receive initial delivery no later than the 2028-29 timeframe. Note that the DG Space goal is to seek ways to reduce the project time- line wherever possible, and put this much needed capability in the hands of the warf- ighter as quickly as possible. RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellites scheduled launch by SpaceX in November 2018 Image: Canadian Space Agency

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