Developing for the next war: New Zealand’s Five Eyes Satellite Research – Arena

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is conducting satellite-surveillance research linked to the country’s membership of the Five Eyes spy alliance—the electronic eavesdropping network that also includes Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.NZDF business unit Defence Science and Technology (DST)—the main provider of military-technology advice to the Ministry of Defence and the NZDF—is collaborating with the US Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School. More than twenty of this school’s masters and PhD students have been directly involved in the work with DST. DST’s participation likely falls under its Space and Navigation Warfare program to develop ‘space domain interoperability’ with militaries of larger states like the United States.Researchers aim to ‘smooth the way for future Pentagon satellite programs and give personnel important know-how’, states DefenseScoop. This know-how includes developing ‘critical capabilities for the next war’, according to a graphic linked...