The government canceled the operation of a British radar in Tierra del Fuego

The MMinistry of Defense issued a technical report and arranged to cancel Leo Labs’ radar activitiesAmerican and British company, settled in the province of Tierra del Fuego. The 22-page document in which Field of application had access is strong and gives final closure to the sensor operation because it endangers the dominant interest of the dispute with Great Britain over the Malvinas archipelago.

The result of the report was sent with a note (NO-2023-889364566-APN-MD) of the Ministry. Jorge Taiana to the head of the cabinet, Agustin Rossi in which he sets out the reasons for the suspension and final cancellation of the commissioning of the AGSR station of LeoLabs Argentina SRL in the city of Tolhuin, province of Tierra del Fuego.

“From a military geostrategic perspective, the radar sensors used in AGSR have a dual-use capability: they can provide early warning and low-orbit Spatial Situational Awareness (SSA) in Argentina. This means that, from our own national territory, you will be able to monitor the activity of Argentina’s satellites, both civil and military (activity that uses low-orbit satellite projects). Intercept data, communications and observe land or sea targets or track aircraft. The operating zone declared by the company coincides with the operating zone of the ground stations transmitting and receiving data in the S band, receiving in the X and K bands of the Argentine satellites.

Offices specialized in radar technology and sensors belonging to the National Committee for Space Activities (Conae), the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces (EMCO), the National Directorate of Defense Materiel Controller, the National Directorate of Military Strategic Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense and INVAP, the latter having extensive experience given its activity in the production of long-range radars for military use.

Therefore, elsewhere in the report it is stated: “we must take into account the geopolitical implications of the aforementioned installation and commissioning, by a company such as LeoLabs Argentina SRL domiciled in Great Britain, given the dual nature of the data taken on its premises. especially when the United Kingdom maintains illegal occupation of the Malvinas Islands, part of our national territory.”

Finally, Minister Taiana closes the road to entrepreneurship with a powerful paragraph. “The Ministry of Defense requests the cancellation and definitive suspension of the installation and commissioning of the AGSR Station of LeoLabs Argentina SRL in the city of Tolhuin, for a violation of national security and incompatible with the National Defense Policy Directive -Decree 457/2021-“. .

This directive is the highest level document that imposes the mission on the military body and says in a paragraph (…) “The persistent, unlawful and illegal military presence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Malvinas, South Georgia, the Sandwich Islands and the corresponding maritime and island spaces requires that precautions be taken for capacity planning, deployment and consistent organization from our defense System”.

For the same reasons she asks to withdraw the operating license from the company Leolabs Argentina SRL, leaving without effect Regulation No. 8/22 of the Deputy Ministry of Telecommunications and Connectivity. Before this “final cancellation” was resolved by Defense, the project was on hold, suspended precisely because of Taiana’s earlier recommendation that along with Francisco Cafierothe Secretary for International Affairs had found indications that the company Leo Labs was of British origin.

The radar mess came to light more than a month ago when Minister Taiana and opposition lawmakers warned that Leo Labs’ activity could jeopardize the country’s sovereign interest. “I fully share the decision of Minister Jorge Taiana to cancel it once and for all,” said Pablo Blanco, a senator for Tierra del Fuego. (JxC).

“The Fueg government owes the country an explanation. It is unacceptable that those who approved LeoLabs INC’s legal status in Tierra del Fuego and those who gave it the power to operate on a trial basis play detached or claim they did not know. Even worse: that they are asking explanations from the national government,” the senator added.