At the Defense Industry Forum in Ankara as part of the 36th NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government, projects and collaborations worth a total of between $4 and $12 million were announced under the title “Space and Surveillance”. Under this heading, the HALO initiative came to the fore, in which Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and Norway were involved.
HALO, declared under the name “Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space,” aims to bring together the military satellites under the national control of the allies in a common mega-constellation architecture.
This new model aims to overcome the cost, time and coverage limitations of a single country's satellite fleets, offering major advantages particularly in the areas of high-speed communications, reconnaissance and missile tracking. The aim is therefore for NATO to achieve a more sustained and comprehensive capability in the areas of high-speed communications, intelligence gathering and missile tracking.
İMECEs are manufactured in Ankara
Türkiye's direct contribution to this situation will be the transfer of İMECE's technical know-how to new satellites. Türkiye will develop two new high-resolution satellites based on the İMECE Earth observation satellite. The satellites will be manufactured by TÜBİTAK UZAY in Ankara and the contract value will be over 300 million dollars.
Under the Constellation Satellite Development Project, İMECE-2 and İMECE-3 are expected to work with the existing İMECE to image larger areas in a shorter time and reduce the time required to revisit the same area. This capability will mean faster data production in crisis areas, border lines, maritime areas, military mobility, and disasters and emergencies.
İMECE, Türkiye's first domestic and national observation satellite with submeter resolution, was added to the Air Force Command's inventory under the name “GÖKTÜRK-2B”. With new projects, the accumulation of domestic satellites resulting from İMECE will become a more visible capability in NATO's common security architecture.
Other signatures made in space
In addition, Turkey signed contracts with ASELSAN totaling more than $350 million for the development of low-orbit satellites and military communications systems and early warning radar systems under the Steel Dome National Integrated Air Defense Architecture. These systems are expected to improve Türkiye's ability to maintain connectivity, detection and early warning capabilities on the battlefield.
In his statement, ASELSAN Director General Ahmet Akyol said: “As part of the investment program for new generation technologies to be jointly developed by member countries, ASELSAN has been entrusted with the development of secure communications satellites in LEO orbit. This task is an important indicator of our country's technical competence in the field of space technologies and the confidence felt at the international level. In the coming period, we will equip space with LEO satellites by establishing new generation satellite networks implement that meet critical military requirements.” and strategic communications needs with the secure communications infrastructure to be created in LEO. he said.
Also in the area of space and surveillance, Spain became the 19th country to take part in the “Alliance Continuity Surveillance from Space” (APSS) project, NATO's space-based intelligence initiative. A contract for access to launch infrastructure in Nova Scotia has been signed between Germany's Isar Aerospace and Canadian-based Maritime Launch Services.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska also announced at the summit that they are working on the “Starlift Initiative,” which aims to create a network of launch companies and spaceports to launch a replacement satellite into orbit in the event of an emergency.
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