Eight NATO Countries Begin Joint Military Satellite Constellation Project

Eight NATO allies announced plans this week to develop a multinational satellite constellation called HALO for military communications, surveillance and operations. Defense News reported that the project will integrate sovereign, nationally owned satellites into a single networked system.

Radmila Šekerinska, NATO deputy secretary-general, said the effort aims to overcome vulnerabilities of single-nation satellite fleets.

“Individual satellite constellations run independently by member countries are vulnerable to cyberattacks, jamming or physical destruction, while also being too slow to relay large amounts of data,” she said at the summit in Ankara. HALO, or Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space, will focus on high-speed communications, intelligence collection and missile tracking.

The participating countries are Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey.

At the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, Canada joined NATO’s STARLIFT initiative as its 15th member to support rapid satellite launches. Spain became the 19th nation in the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space program and will contribute imagery from its Atlantic Constellation satellites for coastal monitoring.

Turkey separately announced plans to build two additional high-resolution satellites.

Šekerinska said the networked approach would reduce cost, time and coverage limits of independent national systems.