Polar Epsilon: Upgrade for our Arctic and maritime satellite surveillance

See this earlier post for detailed background and further links on the Polar Epsilon project. Now the upgrade:

Canada's ability to watch over its coastlines and the Arctic will get a boost early next year when an orbiting satellite is upgraded, allowing it to better conduct surveillance of vessels.

The Defence Department has long had plans to use Radarsat-2 for maritime surveillance and last week, the satellite's owner, MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, B.C., was awarded a $25-million contract to proceed with what is being called project Polar Epsilon.

Polar Epsilon involves using the satellite for Arctic and maritime surveillance as well as constructing new ground stations to receive the data from the spacecraft. The Defence Department has budgeted $64 million for the project.

Radarsat-2 is already capable of detecting ships, but the planned changes to the spacecraft will further refine that, said David Hargreaves, a vice-president at MDA.

"We are going to upgrade the satellite to have some special maritime modes, which are really better at detecting ships over a wider area than the current mode," he explained. "Essentially, you upload a new program to the satellite that knows how to program the antennae to transmit a different kind of (surveillance) beam."

Hargreaves described the process as "almost like installing a new program on a personal computer."

Radarsat-2 is able to view objects day or night and in all kinds of weather. That capability is deemed particularly important, since military officers say much of Canada is in darkness or obscured by clouds about 70 per cent of the time.

Stations to receive data from the satellite, launched in December 2007, will be built on the east and west coasts, said navy Lt.-Cmdr. Robert Quinn, who heads project Polar Epsilon at Defence headquarters.

The ground receiving equipment will be located at Canadian Forces stations at Masstown, N.S., and Aldergrove, B.C.

On an interim basis, the Defence Department will use ground stations already located in Gatineau and Prince Albert, Sask. "But soon as our ground stations are up, we'll shift reception to Masstown and Aldergrove," Quinn said.

The initial information from the spacecraft will be processed at the British Columbia site and sent to various users in the Defence Department.

Quinn said the first job for the project is in providing surveillance data covering the Arctic. After that is received, the military could assign patrol aircraft or ground or naval units to further examine what the spacecraft has picked up.

But Quinn noted the project would also handle other surveillance needs for the Canadian Forces, domestically and internationally.

Other federal departments will use Radarsat-2 for various jobs, such as monitoring pollution or ice movement [e.g. Canadian Coast Guard, Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada].

Radarsat-2 was mostly financed by the federal government, but is owned by MDA...

Update thought: To complement the satellite capability, how about...

A civilian maritime patrol aircraft fleet?

After all the Air Force's Aurora fleet is being reduced to ten aircraft and any replacement is quite a few years away--at very best.

Upperdate: Further to the Update, Bombardier has a good plane for civilian use:

FIELD AVIATION DELIVERS MODIFIED DASH 8 MARITIME SURVEILLANCE AIRCRAFT TO ICELAND

Field Aviation just announced this:

Toronto, July 6, 2009-In a formal ceremony held at its Toronto Pearson airport facilities, Field Aviation today delivered a highly modified Dash 8 Q300 Maritime Surveillance aircraft to the Icelandic Coast Guard [these are not primarily search and rescue planes though Bombardier highlights that role--see near end of this post starting "As for Bombardier..."] . The event, which attracted more than 150 invited guests, included Iceland’s Ambassador to Canada, Her Excellency Ms. Sigridur Anna Thordardottir and Georg Larusson, director general of the Icelandic Coast Guard.

The event was also attended by Mr. K. C. Maple, a Canadian who, in an attempt to sail the North Atlantic to Norway from Canada in 2004, encountered a violent storm off the coast of Iceland and in 16-foot seas was rescued by an Icelandic Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter. Mr. Maple was reunited with Lieutenant Commander Audunn Krsitinsson who pulled him to safety during that heroic rescue mission.

Field Aviation, the prime contractor and integrator on the Icelandic Coast Guard project valued at more than $30 million, partnered with Bombardier Aerospace, which supplied the basic Dash 8 Q300 aircraft, and L-3 Communications, which supplied the sensor systems.

The Icelandic Dash 8 Q300 is equipped with long range fuel and an auxiliary power unit, enabling it to perform missions of over 8 hours endurance. Field Aviation outfitted the aircraft with Maritime Search Radar, Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) and an Electro-Optical /Infra-Red pod (FLIR). All sensors feed into an integrated data handling system supplied by L-3 Communications.

Field integrated the surveillance systems into the aircraft and designed, built and installed a new cabin interior. Field also designed and had approved an in-flight operable door, which allows crews to deploy location flares, paradrop personnel, oil sampling buoys and larger items such as inflatable rafts.

The Icelandic Dash 8 Q300 MSA has multi-mission capability, including search and rescue, maritime sovereignty, medevac and first response activities. Its speed and endurance will produce shorter transit times and more on-station capability in replacing the Icelandic Coast Guard’s current maritime aircraft. This will allow the Coast Guard to increase both environmental and fisheries surveillance, as well as to perform customs duties and border protection. The large cabin interior, coupled with the Q300’s proprietary active noise and vibration system will provide a comfortable, state-of-the-art working environment for the crews on board.

The Icelandic Coast Guard MSA has a configuration based on the Field Aviation modified Dash 8 Q300 MSA’s for the Swedish Coast Guard, which were delivered in 2008. The similarity of type and equipment will provide operational, maintenance, training and support synergies for both countries.

“Growing airborne surveillance requirements to protect our fisheries interests and to fight environmental pollution with a more suitable aircraft platform for the coming decades have made this replacement a necessity” said director general Larusson. “We are very impressed by the work that Field Aviation did for the Swedish Coast Guard MSAs, and this gave us confidence in trusting them to supply us with an MSA that would exceed our mission requirements”.

Field Aviation is a world leader in the adaptation and modification of commercial aircraft for special mission roles ranging from flight inspection to electronic surveillance and maritime patrol operation. Field Aviation modified MSAs have been ordered by six nations for use in providing domain awareness and the protection of national sovereignty [emphasis added].