CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) has been awarded a contract for BOREALIS, a UK sovereign capability that will be delivered into the core of the National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC). The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA), alongside many other organisations they serve, will benefit from enhanced Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and a new Space Command and Control capability. This investment provides armed forces personnel and civil government colleagues with cutting-edge space technology, while also strengthening the UK’s space sector by leveraging expertise from across industry including SMEs and academia.
The BOREALIS system will process and collate information across multiple classifications to monitor the space domain, enable space operations, and support timely decision-making. By ensuring greater collaboration with international allies, BOREALIS will enhance the UK’s ability to protect its interests in space and contribute to the safe, secure, and sustainable use of space globally.
Building on the success of the existing Aurora capability developed by CGI, the contract will deliver an Initial Operating Capability within 18 months and is set to run for five years. BOREALIS will be delivered using an Agile approach, allowing the MOD and UKSA to respond swiftly to new technology and emerging threats. This will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of space operations in a rapidly evolving landscape. The system provides the flexibility required to adapt and grow alongside the challenges and opportunities in this critical domain.
Maj Gen Paul Tedman, Commander of UK Space Command, said: “The use of space is crucial for our economy, prosperity, security, and defence, but assured access to space is becoming increasingly contested by adversaries and congested by users and debris. Therefore, it is imperative that we know what is happening in space. BOREALIS is an innovative system that draws together multiple inputs to enhance the UK government’s understanding of the wide-ranging activity on orbit, allowing the UK to protect not just our own space assets, but those of our allies and partners as well.”
Paul Russell, Space Delivery Team Leader at DE&S, said: “The BOREALIS capability will harness multiple different sources of data (defence, government and commercial) and support military and civil operations and capabilities across all domains. It will work in conjunction with other programmes, such as ISTARI (UK Space Command’s programme to launch satellites into orbit to deliver Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capability), to ensure key sovereign and international data is obtained, managed and shared to improve the UK’s space domain awareness, ability to exercise freedom of action in space and assure space operations.”
Neil Timms, Senior Vice President of Space, Defence & Intelligence UK & Australia at CGI said: “We’re proud to support UK Space Command and the UK Space Agency through delivery of BOREALIS. We believe this is a strategic step towards establishing a more holistic approach to the UK’s national space data architecture, with BOREALIS and the National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) at its heart.”
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