National Defence Awards MDA Polar Epsilon 2 Contract

Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan announced today that National Defence had awarded a contract to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) to deliver the Polar Epsilon 2 system. The delayed project first issued a Request for Information in late 2013.

According to National Defence the “Polar Epsilon 2 will use imagery from the three-satellite RADARSAT Constellation Mission, to be launched in 2018, to deliver world-leading advanced surveillance capabilities for domestic and global Canadian Armed Forces operations.”

“The new system will extend and enhance the capacity of Polar Epsilon 1, which works with the RADARSAT 2 satellite, amplifying the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to detect, identify, and track vessels of interest in Canada’s maritime areas, the Arctic region, and in support of operations around the world.”

The value of the contract $48.5 million for which MDA will build ground receiving stations on the east and west coasts which will be designed to use data from the RADARSAT Constellation Mission satellites to detect ships. The contract also includes an option to implement infrastructure to manage data, which if exercised, could increase the total contract value to approximately $63.1 million.

In his remarks Minister Sajjan said “the Government of Canada is committed to ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces remain a modern, combat-effective, multi-role military able to conduct the missions the Government asks of it. The Polar Epsilon 2 project positions Canada as a world leader in space-based remote sensing for arctic and maritime domain awareness, and provides our women and men in uniform with the data and information needed to respond to domestic and international crises and events.”

Norman Hannaford, MDA’s general manager responsible for this business said, “This award confirms MDA’s role as a leading global supplier of Earth observation satellite ground infrastructure.”

Related:
An Overview of Canadian Military Space in 2014 – Part 1
An Overview of Canadian Military Space in 2014 – Part 2

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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