NATO member nations are set to develop a multinational satellite constellation intended to support military operations ranging from communications to surveillance, officials announced this week at the alliance’s summit in Ankara.
Radmila Sekerinska, NATO’s deputy secretary-general, announced that eight allied nations are launching a project to explore development of a mega-constellation called HALO, short for Hybrid Alliance Layered Operations in Space, describing it as opening a new chapter in allied space operations. The initiative will focus on improving connectivity and integrating sovereign, nationally owned and controlled military satellites into a single networked constellation.
Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey are taking part in the HALO effort, which aims to strengthen alliance resilience and military advantage in space by enabling high-speed communications, intelligence gathering and missile tracking. Sekerinska noted that individual satellite constellations operated independently by member countries remain vulnerable to cyberattacks, jamming or physical destruction, and are often too slow to relay large volumes of data.
She said the new networked model would be particularly useful for high-speed communications, intelligence and missile tracking, helping to overcome the cost, time and coverage limitations associated with single-nation satellite fleets.
At the accompanying NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, several member nations announced further contributions to the alliance’s space capabilities. Canada became the 15th member of NATO’s STARLIFT multinational initiative, which explores ways to build a network of launch capabilities enabling allies to launch assets on short notice from spaceports across the alliance.
Spain became the 19th country to join NATO’s Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space initiative, with Madrid contributing increased coastal surveillance capability through imagery from its Atlantic Constellation satellites. Turkey separately announced plans to develop two additional high-resolution satellites to complement regional space capabilities.
The HALO initiative reflects growing recognition within NATO of the need for more resilient, networked space capabilities, as member nations move to pool resources and reduce the vulnerabilities associated with relying solely on individual national satellite systems.