The federal government’s Defence Investment Agency (DIA) has awarded a new, $2.3-billion CAD contract to Ottawa-based Telesat. The company is tasked with bolstering Canada’s military communications capabilities in the Arctic using satellites built by Brampton, Ont.-based MDA Space.
The news: The federal government announced the contract, which will be the largest in Telesat’s history, on Tuesday morning. As part of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty push, the constellation will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with secure satellite communication capabilities in the Arctic and other high-latitude regions to support regional defence, operations and search and rescue missions.
The contract will expand Telesat’s low-Earth orbit satellite network by 69 satellites, bringing its Lightspeed constellation from 156 to 225 satellites. This ups the number of satellites MDA Space was already making for Telesat, increasing the total value of MDA’s contract by $474 million. The 15-year contract includes two five-year option periods worth around $200 million each, bringing its total value to $2.7 billion.
From the source: “Secure, sovereign communications are essential to the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to operate across Canada’s North, work seamlessly with our allies and partners, and contribute to continental defence,” Royal Canadian Air Force commander Jamie Speiser-Blanchet said in a statement.
Following the thread: This deal is rooted in the first contract DIA awarded to Telesat and MDA back in December, which supported the initial engineering work for the contract’s underlying military communications project, the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project – Polar (ESCP-P). Telesat said the end-to-end network integration required for the project, such as ground and control infrastructure, training, and support services, will be covered under a separate agreement with the DIA.
The satellites will be built out of MDA’s Montréal manufacturing facility, which was recently expanded in response to increased demand for satellite constellations.
Final thought: The door is open for even more work on this project. The feds have tapped MDA to be the prime contractor for the ESCP-P program’s next component: a secure, ultra-high frequency and X-band constellation in medium earth orbit. For this part, Telesat will serve as the subcontractor integrating the systems and implementing the project’s various communication bands. This contract’s details are still being negotiated, according to MDA and the DIA.
Feature image courtesy Public Services and Procurement Canada via LinkedIn.