Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/533940
s sPaCe 12 JUNE/JULY 2015 www.vanguardcanada.com Q And that would be your principal link to the future dismounted soldier in Adaptive Dispersed Operations? You are bang on. Even though Canada has not owned tactical nar- rowband SATCOM capability, we have had access to it through our partnerships and have been using it in operations. However, the capability is in such high demand that we are often putting our partners in a difficult position of prioritizing requests. There is only so much capacity on their systems. We know where the demand is going and we have an obligation to be robust in our own capabilities. So the Tactical Narrowband SATCOM project is high on our list of things to deliver. Q Given the strength of current SATCOM capabilities for domestic maritime domain awareness, are you able to leverage those globally. Are things like Polar Epsilon ground stations and AIS data feeds deployable with navy ships or is that data provided through reach back? It is deployable. However, what we are trying to deploy techni- cally is the effect itself, and sometimes that does not require a lot of hardware or a big footprint. We don't necessarily have to deploy the manpower to achieve the effect for a deployed ship. So reach back with the right tools – often C4ISR systems – can provide a commander with a tailored product for that area of responsibility to produce the right effects. Much of that is being done by director naval intelligence through the Regional Joint Operations Centres on both coasts. Q With the increase in training exercises in the Arctic, do exist- ing SATCOM systems address most of your requirements or are you identifying gaps, especially north of 70 degrees? For the primary communication piece, we are working on the Tactical Narrowband SATCOM (TNS) project. But we also have the need for wideband satellite communication. Mercury Global is step one in answering the wideband requirement, but delivered as it is now from a geostationary position does not provide cover- age for the North as of yet, so it is a key project for Horizon 2. We are in the options analysis phase for TNS. One of the op- tions we are considering, beyond our military requirement of sat- ellite communication, is could we deliver that capability through a space-based system that provides more capabilities than just narrowband? So one example is the Polar Communications and Weather initiative that was originally proposed by the Canadian Space Agency. PCW could potentially meet the TNS require- ments of DND while delivering additional capabilities to support other government requirements, such as terrestrial weather and Arctic communications. With operations and exercises, all of our forces are getting used to real-time information. And that's also the case as we move north. Many of us remember how it was just a few years ago when we did not have these systems within our reach, but the expecta- tion is for near-real time. That is the next frontier for us for the North, being able to operate in that area of responsibility exactly as we do in every other AOR. Q In addition to force employment and force development, you also have a force generation role. What's the training challenge for DG Space? Do you have the people as more of these systems come online, or does this sophisticated level of technology create a training problem? To sustain some of the force employment, we need the right peo- ple at the right time, with the right skills. However, in Canada we do not have a "space" trade. We have a space cadre that has been around for decades. It's based on qualification – training as well as experience – and, as you might imagine, it is a small group. Though we continue to have a requirement for space specialists, the future is more and more about providing organizations and commanders the right systems and tools to enable operators in their domains to access space capabilities without always requiring a space expert to be added to its team. If a space-based capability can be readily accessible for air force operators, navy operators, or soldiers on the ground without having to impose big systems or additional personnel to that Wing, ship or platoon, I think we will have achieved our aim. Q Looking out beyond the near-term needs, what are the key elements you'll require to provide support to operations? For Horizon 2 and 3, I would put them in three categories. The first is the big family of satellite communications, the space seg- ment and the ground segment required to make it a capability. The second grouping is ISR – intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance – and the key partner in that effort is the CAF Intelligence Command. Foremost, it is about having the right capabilities in place for Earth observation – surveillance and re- connaissance – but it also includes surveillance of space itself, so space-based capabilities that are looking outwards at every orbit, at the key capabilities that we want to have an eye on, and at all of the objects and debris that could affect our capabilities. The third grouping is the navigation warfare (NAVWAR) pro- gram which assures our ability to access the space-based posi- tion, navigation and timing capabilities while also denying the same capabilities to our adversary. In theory, if it is transmitting, our adversaries can co-opt it for their own use. So we need to become smarter and ensure that as we introduce new capabili- ties, they don't start to get used against us. Our key partner in that realm is ADM S&T, in particular Defence Research and Development Canada. These three groups of key capabilities are designed to support operations. Where it all comes together is in our CANSpOC, and through our partnership with our allies under CSpO. But space technology is rapidly evolving so we need to ensure we have the right capabilities at the right time. We rely on agencies like DRDC, the Canadian Space Agency, and academia to do the lon- ger-term research to support future operational requirements.