Updated Jan. 19, 5:26 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON — U.S. Strategic Command and Canada’s Department of National Defence have signed an updated accord permitting the exchange of advanced space situational awareness (SSA) data, Strategic Command announced Jan. 10.
The agreement, signed Dec. 26, streamlines the process by which the Canadian military requests SSA data from Strategic Command’s Joint Space Operations Center for things like satellite maneuver planning, collision avoidance and anomaly resolution.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and French governments are expected to sign a similar data-sharing agreement this year, hopefully by spring, according to an official with the French Embassy in Washington.The two sides already have a preliminary framework SSA agreement that was signed in 2011.
The U.S. government already has similar bilateral SSA data sharing accords with Australia, Italy and Japan.
