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OTTAWA — Canada is working with NATO on plans for a new ground station for the alliance’s satellites, the only one of its kind in North America.
It would put a link to the alliance’s so-called sixth-generation satellite communications system on Canadian soil, renewing a form of military contribution that lapsed with the closure of an obsolete Nova Scotia site more than 20 years ago.
The Canadian Armed Forces see the project as a potential economic boost and an opportunity to train people to operate a separate multibillion-dollar military satellite system that Canada plans to build for itself.
Talking Points
- As space capabilities become more important to warfare, NATO has come to Canada with a request to build a new ground station for satellite communications
- Government documents obtained by The Logic say that the only station of its kind on this side of the Atlantic would bring in NATO allies’ money and train Canadians for the Canadian Forces’ own new satellite network, which the federal government is just starting to design
The idea is described in documents The Logic obtained from the Department of National Defence, through an access-to-information request. Dated last December, a memo to the defence minister—signed by Stefanie Beck, then the department’s top permanent official—said putting a ground station in Canada was NATO’s idea.
Lt. Pamela Hogan, a National Defence spokesperson, confirmed to The Logic that Canada and NATO are now working on a feasibility study for the station. The findings will determine whether Canada goes through with the idea.
“As such, potential locations have not yet been identified or assessed,” Hogan wrote in an email. NATO spokesperson Njoki Mahiaini referred The Logic to Canadian authorities.
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Satellite links are essential to military communications, particularly with units that are out of range of regular antennas. Ground stations that beam signals up and receive them from orbit are crucial—and attractive targets in a conflict.
“As allied reliance on space-enabled capabilities increases, the resiliency and geographical distribution of ground infrastructure become essential to safeguarding these critical assets,” the National Defence materials said.
Canada would contribute the property but NATO’s communications agency would pay to build the new station, they said. Other alliance members would contribute “a substantial amount” to running it, making for a net economic benefit to Canada.
The documents said Canadians working at the site, and in the NATO communication network more broadly, would gain expertise and international exposure, and would be able to “share this experience with other upcoming sovereign capabilities being developed in Canada,” such as the “Enhanced Satellite Communications Project–Polar.” That’s a new satellite system to improve the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to communicate in the Arctic.
In December, the government hired MDA Space and Telesat to help design it, through a small initial contract that’s expected to lead to more than $5 billion worth of work in the coming years.
The materials say the plan has been in the works since last fall. Senior Canadian defence officials met in The Hague with the chief of NATO’s Integrated Mission Services Centre, which runs the alliance’s satellite communications, to talk about co-operating more. That NATO man: John Blythe, a former Canadian public servant who dealt with defence information technology needs before leaving for NATO in 2024.
More exchanges followed, including a tour of NATO’s main satellite ground station in Kester, Belgium.
Including that one, NATO now has three such stations in Europe and one in Turkey, transmitting data to and from alliance forces via member states’ satellites (NATO operates the ground stations but member countries run the satellites themselves). The alliance once had more than 20 stations, but technological advances have meant NATO can do more with fewer of them, it said in 2021, explaining the outlook for its space-based systems at the time.
The next year, Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine. Then last year, Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency, badmouthing NATO and prompting other member countries to think how the alliance might function without its heftiest member.
Operating just four ground stations is cheaper but also riskier, because there’s less redundancy. Besides the Canadian site, the Defence documents suggested that another new one might be built in northern Norway.
Besides the practical benefits, the station would also be symbolic, Beck’s memo said: “Once operational, this capability would benefit all NATO allies while demonstrating Canada’s continued commitment to NATO.”
