Australian Defence Force at risk with old satellite kept on line

Australia’s military communications could be jammed by enemies after the government cancelled a $7bn satellite project, forcing reliance on ageing commercial technology until 2033.

The Intelsat IS-22 satellite used by the Australian Defence Force.

The Australian Defence Force will have to rely on an ageing, vulnerable commercial satellite for battlefield communications for up to eight more years after the axing of a planned $7bn military-grade system, threatening its ability to fight against a capable enemy.

The Albanese government has signed a $180m contract to keep using the Intelsat IS-22 satellite launched in 2012 and extend its life until 2033, despite pledging to develop a more resilient and capable system.

Experts warned that the IS-22 platform, which provides ultra-high frequency tactical communications for the ADF, was no longer fit for purpose and at risk of being jammed in an electronic warfare attack.

The decision will test the patience of the US, which faces having to share valuable bandwidth with the ADF if Australia’s satellite communications are disabled. Other US allies are pouring unprecedented funding into new military space capabilities including Germany ($62bn), the UK ($12bn) and France ($17bn).

Australia’s stop-gap solution comes as the government refuses to explicitly quarantine Defence from fresh budget cuts on top of sweeping cost-cutting measures across the department to pay for nuclear submarines and new warships. The Australian revealed 12 months ago that the government was cancelling its planned multi-satellite project known as JP9102, which was budgeted at between $5.2bn and $7.2bn and had been in the works for a decade.

At the time, Defence Minister Richard Marles argued that the ADF needed a more cutting-edge system, warning that the planned satellites were at risk of being “shot out of the sky”.

“In progressing this, we believe we can do this in a more resilient way, and therefore a more capable way, in a more timely way, and a more cost effective way,” Mr Marles said.

Defence’s assistant secretary for space systems, Michael Hunt, said the new Intelsat agreement would ensure “secure and reliable communications for our ADF personnel”.

But an industry source said the ADF was being forced to rely on an “old satellite with no resilience features” because the government had “dithered” so long on developing a replacement system. The IS-22 satellite provided coverage of the Indian Ocean but the new contract will allow it to be relocated to meet ADF needs.

The deal comes amid concerns over the effectiveness of another commercial satellite used by the ADF, Optus C1, which was launched in 2003 and provided coverage over the Asia-Pacific.

The source said the C1 satellite was “at the end of its life”, leaving IS-22 as the force’s primary communications platform in the absence of US support.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Malcolm Davis said the cancellation of Defence’s long-term satellite communications plan had forced Defence to “go back to this old, obsolete satellite” that lacked modern electronic warfare protection. “It’s effectively a commercial satellite with a military transponder on it,” Dr Davis said. “It’s not a purpose-designed satellite, such as the advanced, extremely high frequency satellites that the US operate, or the ultra-wide-band satellites that are also being deployed.”

He said that if IS-22 was jammed during a conflict, the ADF would lose the ability to fight effectively because deployed units and critical capabilities including warships and F-35 fighters would be unable to communicate.

“They would lose the ability to co-ordinate between themselves or with allies and partners,” Dr Davis said. “Satellite communications are really crucial.”

He said it appeared the government was “making a bet that nothing bad will happen this decade” so it could pour resources into AUKUS submarines and new frigate programs. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to AUKUS, but they’re not increasing defence spending sufficiently to compensate,” he said.

Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said the last-minute funding to allow the ADF to keep using IS-22 was “a Band-Aid on a self-inflicted wound”.

“They scrapped the long-term project, stripped the capability of certainty, and left Australian ­industry in the lurch,” Mr Taylor said. “Australia needs a defence policy that matches the threats we face. The government is ­papering over the cracks of an overstretched defence budget at the very moment our region is ­becoming more dangerous and contested.”

JP9102 would have delivered three to five dedicated military satellites in geostationary orbit nearly 36,000km above the Earth.

Lockheed Martin had been named as preferred tenderer for the project, with $300m already outlayed before it was cancelled.

The government has vowed to come up with a long-term solution for ADF satellite communications under a project known as SPA9102. The project is in initial planning stages, with Defence seeking options from industry partners. A Defence spokeswoman said: “Defence is transitioning from discrete, infrequent, large-scale updates to a continuous capability development approach for satellite communications and related infrastructure. This shift is driven by emerging and evolving technology and counter-space threats, and this approach will ensure Defence remains responsive to this strategic environment.

“The approach will provide a resilient satellite communications system that leverages multiple frequency bands, multiple orbits and multiple providers – allowing Defence to mitigate the risk of reliance on any single system.”

The decision to keep using IS-22 until 2033 comes as Defence faces a brutal austerity drive, with service chiefs ordered to delay projects, slash maintenance costs and cut workforce spending.

The US has demanded its allies contribute more on their own defence, pushing Australia to lift defence spending from a current 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent. However, Donald Trump didn’t push the issue when he met Anthony Albanese in Washington in October, declaring: “I’d always like more, but they have to do what they have to do. You can only do so much.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Marles said the government was delivering the largest peacetime increase in Defence spending in Australia’s history, but refused to rule out budget cuts under the government’s pre-budget austerity drive seeking savings of up to 5 per cent across the bureaucracy.

She pointed The Australian to comments by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who said on Wednesday the government had asked departments “to identify and suggest areas of lower priority spending so that we can redirect it to higher priority areas”. “That has not just been something we’ve done on this occasion, we’ve done it in the past four budgets, we’re doing it in the lead-up to our fifth,” Senator Gallagher said.

In the May budget, the government pledged to increase defence spending by $5.7bn over the next four years, and $57bn over the decade. The lion’s share of the additional spending doesn’t kick in for more than two years, with only $770m in extra funding in 2025-26 and $730m the following year, forcing belt-tightening across the force.