Vanguard Magazine

18 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 www.vanguardcanada.com Arctic Corridors Framework: planning for responsible shipping in Canada's Arctic waters". It produced a number of charts that suggested corridors to mini- mize such impacts. A new port in Iqaluit will begin con- struction in July 2018, and it should be completed by November 2019. It will be the first and only port in the Canadian Arctic. This asset will augment the fed- eral capabilities significantly. The port of Churchill in Manitoba is not located in the Arctic and, at the moment, is lack- ing a reliable rail line with the south. The Canadian Forces are in the process of fi- nalizing the development of a refuelling capability at Nanisivik. Future potential systems The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)'s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) project, formerly known as the Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Tar- get Acquisition System (JUSTAS) proj- ect, has moved into the options analysis phase. That system would bring a cost effective way to patrol the vast expanses of the Arctic and provide another layer of surveillance capability to add to the other systems in place. Communications in the Arctic have been a significant challenge over the years. This is mainly due to the lack of land base connectivity through fiber optics or mi- crowave links. Communications to sup- port military operations and the Cana- dian Coast Guard have traditionally been provided through geostationary satellite links, which are expensive. As one pro- gresses further north, communications ArCtiC through those links with geostationary sat- ellites become increasing unreliable. Other satellite communications providers like Inmarsat or Iridium do not have the high bandwidth capabilities required by modern networks and sensors. But this is about to change when Telesat, a Canadian company headquartered in Ottawa, completes the de- velopment of a constellation of 100+ low- earth-orbit satellites with an in-service date of 2022. "The global network will deliver fiber quality throughput (Gbps links; low latency) anywhere on earth." In addition to providing better communications anywhere in the Arctic to support security operations, the control of the system will be in Canadian hands, and it will provide a degree of com- munication redundancy through the large number of satellites. Geostationary satel- lites are vulnerable to various forms of at- tack. They would likely be targeted early in a conflict. The Canadian Forces Enhanced Satellite Communications Project – Polar (ESCP-P) has just completed its Request for Information (RFI). It has an in-service date in the 2028-2029 timeframe. The Qikiqtaaluk Corporation is hoping to build a port in Qikiqtarjuaq. This addi- tion would augment the facilities that can be used for refuelling, repairs, search and rescue and dealing with an environmental emergency in the eastern part of the Arctic. The proper monitoring of underwater activities has long been a gap in our all do- main situational awareness. As far back as the 1987 White Paper on Defence, there have been efforts to deploy sensors to monitor submarine activity in the Arctic. Recent ef- forts were done under the Northern Watch Technology Demonstration Project run by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). For a number of years, various com- binations of systems which included surface radar and remote weather monitoring were tested at the Gascoyne Inlet of Nunavut. That project ended in 2016. In 2015, a new pro- gram was stood up: the All Domain Situational Awareness Science & Technology Program with funding over $100 million. The pro- gram counts several initiatives to explore vari- ous elements of surveillance technologies and knowledge required to monitor sub-surface activity like autonomous underwater vehicles with towed arrays and the investigation of how sound propagates through Arctic waters. Options for the replacement of the North Warning System are now being explored. The present line of radars which was installed in the late 1980s is largely obsolete, especially when considering Russian supersonic cruise missiles. There is presently a Request for Pro- posal for the installation of a polar over-the- horizon radar somewhere in the High Arctic. It is probably one of the various options be- ing considered by NORAD to improve long range detection of threats. The Coast Guard fleet of icebreakers is 39-years old on average, and ships are reach- ing the end of their design life. Although there is a refurbishment and life extension program in place and the recently announced AOPS under construction. Photo: Canadian Forces North Warning System Long Range Radar Site Photo: Pierre Leblanc

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