The CEO of Amcham, Paul Schonenberg, members of the sales team, along with members of Amcham Space committee were all in attendance on the occasion of the 2023 edition of the GOVSATCOM conference event held on the 23rd of February at the European Convention Center Luxembourg in Kirchberg.
For years, The GOVSATCOM Luxembourg Conference has become a key event on the agenda of International SATCOM actors from the satellite, governmental, institutional and defence fields.
The European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) programme aims at providing secure and cost-efficient communications capabilities to security and safety critical missions and operations managed by the European Union and its Member States, including national security actors and EU Agencies and institutions.
The conference is dedicated to Defence and Security talks and topics, covered by International and renowned speakers.
A highlight of the day was opened by a brilliant keynote speech by Stacy A. Cummings, General Manager, NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), on the topic of “Collaborating in Space for Defence and Security”.
Mrs. Cummings especially thanked Minister François Bausch for mentioning the Global [Commercially Contracted] Satellite Communications Support Partnership that NATO/NSPA established in October last year, a collaboration between the United States and Luxembourg is opening a new era of Space cooperation within NATO, taking the opportunity to share with the assembled guests why this type of collaboration in the Space domain is so important, and to explain the role that NSPA plays in facilitating similar initiatives across the Alliance.
Mrs. Cummings stated;
“In 2022, NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept went further, officially underlining the vital role of space for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture. Indeed, the updated Space Policy issued in January 2022, identified Space as essential to the Alliance’s deterrence and defence.
Last week, 16 Allies launched a project based civil and military cooperation called the “Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space” (APSS). This initiative is an important element in the implementation of the NATO Space Policy. It establishes a virtual constellation – ‘Aquila’ – of both national and commercial space assets, such as satellites, leveraging the latest advances in commercial space technology. As such, it will help streamline data collection, sharing and analysis among NATO Allies and with the NATO command structure, while generating cost savings.
It was in fact Luxembourg’s early contribution to this project that laid the groundwork for this transformative initiative and will allow participating countries to contribute to Aquila through their own assets, data or funds.
APSS will help facilitate better navigation, communications and detection of missile launches. APSS also perfectly illustrates the benefits of Collaborating in Space for Defence and Security across nations and between governments and industry.
Space has thus become a key resource for defence and security. While space started as a strategic domain, today it provides operational and tactical advantage on the battlefield. This new strategic and tactical dimension of space has become much more evident after Russia’s war against Ukraine and further invasion on 24 February 2022, exactly a year ago.”
* Thank you to the NSPA Corporate Communications Office for their assistance.
