Peru and the United States strengthen space defense ties

By Peter Watson

The US Space Command, the Peruvian Air Force, and Conida (Comisión Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Aeroespacial, the Peruvian space agency) have signed a cooperation agreement on space situational awareness, which will simplify the maneuvering processes of the PeruSAT-1 Earth observation satellite by providing information on space debris in orbit.

PeruSAT-1 operators at the Centro Nacional de Operaciones de Imágenes Satelitales (CNOIS), based in the district of Pucusana, south of Metropolitan Lima, will use the data and services provided by the US Space Command to avoid collisions with space debris and to perform orbit maintenance maneuvers more safely, thus making more responsible use of space.

The agreement was signed on April 18 in Colorado Springs, US.

The signatories were the Commander of the US Space Command, General James Dickinson; Lieutenant General Carlos Chávez Cateriano, Chief of the Peruvian Air Force General Staff (FAP); and Major General José Antonio García Morgan, institutional head of Conida.

Major General José Luis Barrios Espinosa, Major General Roberto Antonio Melgar Sheen, and Major General Francisco Ildefonso Linares also traveled to the United States.

The opportunity for the signing of the agreement arose from the invitation extended by the United States Department of Defense to the Peruvian Air Force through its Air Attaché Office for the FAP and Conida to participate in high-level meetings with US defense agencies, visits to the US Air Force Officers Academy (USAF) and to sign the Space Situational Awareness Agreement with the Space Command.

The trip of the Peruvian military delegation has been an opportunity to strengthen strategic alliances, seek benefits for the Peruvian National Defense System in general and for the Peruvian Air Force in particular, and increase institutional and national prestige and information.

It is also a step forward in knowledge and experience on the latest advances in defense, security, and aerospace technologies, the future construction of repeater antennas in Peruvian territory, control stations, the design of a future spaceport, and launch sites for space vehicles.

With information from Infodefensa

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