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The head of Canada’s military space division says the country “should absolutely be” concerned about Russia’s potential capabilities amid global fears the Kremlin is considering putting nuclear weapons in place to target satellites.
“That would be cataclysmic,” said Brig.-Gen. Christopher Horner, Commander of 3 Canadian Space Division during an interview with CBC’s The House.
“Everything that we have come to rely on from a communications platform level or from a GPS level — if [Russia] were to deploy a capability like that and then detonate it — would be wiped out,” Horner told host Catherine Cullen.
Horner’s warning comes as global leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, express fears about Russia using nuclear weapons against satellites.
In December, Rutte told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that a move like that by Russia would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction in space.
Brig.-Gen. Christopher Horner, Commander of 3 Canadian Space Division, says Canada ‘should absolutely be’ concerned about Russia’s potential capabilities as global leaders express fears the Kremlin is considering putting nuclear weapons in space.
Two years ago, U.S. and Russian officials sparred at the UN after Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted UN Security Council resolution calling on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space.
At the time, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters the resolution was “a joke” while then deputy U.S. ambassador Robert Wood said Russia voting against the resolution “makes you wonder whether they’re hiding something.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in on the matter as well and said his country has “always been categorically against and are now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in space.”
Horner said the scale of the possible threat is why there’s been such an outcry over the last few years.
As for Canada, Horner said the country will “work as a middle power with our partners globally to ensure that type of thing doesn’t happen and to … really put the diplomatic pressures where they’re needed to get down that road.…
“From a military perspective, I only offer that advice [that] we really should put pressure on them not to put a nuclear weapon in space, because that would be a horrendously terrible thing for so many reasons.”
‘Sovereign space launch capability’
The 2025 federal budget sets aside $182.6 million over three years for the Department of National Defence to establish a “sovereign space launch capability,” which would allow Canada to send its own commercial and military satellites into orbit from Canadian soil.
Several projects are already underway in a race to establish Canada’s first commercial spaceport. Horner said such a capability is necessary to “give Canada its assured access to space” — and could come with added benefits.
“What I can tell you is the space economy is growing rapidly. So from an economic prosperity perspective, it gives us access to a market we haven’t had before,” Horner said.
“But I’m also seeing from a military perspective the challenges with the few numbers of launch providers that are available globally.”
Limited providers plus a rising demand for launches could result in a system where those with the most money get to launch their satellites the fastest, Horner warned, leaving Canada on the back foot without a homegrown option.
“And then it will cost Canadians more to then find a pathway to have SpaceX, or Blue Origin or Rocket Lab, or someone like that launch,” he said.
While Canada awaits a spaceport, Horner highlighted other ongoing efforts in Canada’s aerospace sector.
“We’ve incredible companies that can conceive, design and build satellites, in Montreal and Toronto, here in Ottawa — there is incredible intellectual capital and property in this country that is world-leading,” Horner said, emphasizing “the sovereignty we can gain as a country by having our own ability to complete the economic circle or economic chain of space.”
