Photo: Government of South Australia

PERTH, Western Australia — Australia lacks a national direction when it comes to defense space policy and the country should be working closely with the commercial space industry and looking to allies for guidance, one expert said in a critique during last week’s Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference in Perth, Western Australia (WA).

The critique came from Marissa Martin, a PhD candidate at the Freeman Air and Space Institute and the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. Martin’s research focuses on how middle powers and close allies respond to a shifting security environment in relation to space policies, focusing on the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

“[Australia] lacks a strategic national approach to space, which is where I think the commercial industry needs to come in,” said Martin. “I also think they need to take some influence from their allies like the U.K.,” she added.

Space policy will play an increasingly important part in the AUKUS trilateral security partnership between Australia, U.K. and U.S., which was signed in September 2021, with the aim of promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

The first pillar of AUKUS focuses on Australia producing, maintaining and operating a sovereign fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Pillar II covers technological innovation, including cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and warfare capabilities.

“With AUKUS there are so many layers to it, so many capabilities. The Pillar II initiatives [and] the associated changes create a huge opportunity for us [Australia],” said David Ball, regional director, Australia and New Zealand, Lockheed Martin Space.

AUKUS and space technology has in focus after the recent cancellation by the Australian Department of Defence of JP9102, said Gary Hale, director of National Resilience & Security (NRAS) at Australia’s Curtin University.

In early November, Defence cancelled its procurement activity with Lockheed Martin Australia for a Geostationary (GEO) satellite communication system under JP9102. In 2021, Defence issued a tender for a Defence-owned and operated GEO system, with the system intended to enhance Australia’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, providing resilient communications and counter emerging space threats.

However, in light of considerable changes in space technologies and evolving space threats, Defence determined that a single orbit GEO solution will no longer meet its requirements and will pursue a more resilient multi-orbit capability.

“Tremendous change has happened in terms of the commercial satellite world,” said Ball, pointing to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) capabilities in the form of Starlink, as well as the Kuiper and Lightspeed constellations.

“The program [JP9102] still exists and will still go forward, but the department is now focusing around a multi-orbit approach as they are cognizant of the fact that things have moved on,” he said. “There is still going to be a GEO layer and maybe a MEO or LEO layer. What remains to be seen is when and how government is going to move ahead and we are obviously ready to engage with them on that.”

The pivot to a multi-layer solution won’t necessarily be an easy one, however. “It’s a lengthy process and it tends to be expensive, so there are a lot of issues that Defence needs to think through,” he said.

The move is understandable considering the vulnerability of a single-layer solution, said retired Air Vice Marshall Catherine Roberts, Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) advisory board member and formerly the first Space Commander in the Australian Defence Force.

“The reality is that satellites are vulnerable to a variety of things and when you see things happening every day [jamming, for example], you really want to have satellites in different orbits to reduce your vulnerability and assure your assets,” Roberts said, highlighting the need for a space web or mesh to ensure continuous operations.

Australian defense is at an interesting position when it comes to space, said Roberts, with the need for the country to progress in the near term. “The geopolitical environment has changed significantly and we have a lot of work to do to reprioritize Australian programs so we can progress,” she said. “The strategic environment requires us to innovate fairly quickly and that’s a challenge.”

Under the new U.S. administration, the country’s allies should expect AUKUS changes, Martin said, with Trump being a “transactional president who expects allies to do a lot.” Martin predicts Trump will ask Australia to do a lot more, including more financial resources and an acceleration in the program. Australia itself has its own federal election within the next five months which could impact AUKUS.

It will also be interesting to see how Australia’s relationship with China impacts joint space programs under Trump, with Australia being “economically tight” with China, said Martin. This could particularly affect intelligence sharing, with Martin suggesting that the equal partnership between Australia and the U.S. at the Pine Gap satellite communication and signals intelligence surveillance base near Alice Springs could be affected.

Australia has numerous advantages when it comes to space, said Martin, pointing to its geography and location, which the country should be using to its advantage.

WA alone has a huge and diverse space infrastructure, both defense and civil, thanks to its geographical position and environmental conditions. Perth’s location on the same longitude as Beijing, mean WA surveillance infrastructure is considered vital for space security. WA infrastructure includes the Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station, which is part of the U.S. signals intelligence and analysis network, ECHELON; the US-Australian Space Surveillance Telescope and C-Band Space Surveillance Radar System in Exmouth; and the Royal Australian Air Force’s Jindalee Operational Radar Network. From 2026, the Exmouth-based Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability will provide 24-hour continuous global and all-weather coverage to track and identify objects in deep space.

In the current geopolitical environment, sovereignty is more important than ever before, said Ball. In Australia’s case, sovereignty means Australian owned and controlled, not necessarily built, he said.

Local expertise and capability are important, with Lockheed Martin looking to expand Australian companies in its space supply chain, as it did with the F-35. Melbourne-based Ronson Gears providing satellite precision gearing is “a small start.”

Australia will have sovereign civil surveillance capability through the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network, which is a joint initiative of Australia and New Zealand. Lockheed Martin Australia is building the ground segment for SouthPAN which will provide improved positioning and navigation services for industries including aviation, agriculture, forestry and construction, improving the accuracy of GPS signals to 10 centimeters.