A source has informed Ōtautahi peace action campaign Stop the Space Waste! of meetings held between the ChristchurchNZ company and an anonymous and ‘highly commercially sensitive’ American entity. It is as of yet unconfirmed whether this entity is directly tied to, or itself, the US military. The focus of these meetings has apparently been to negotiate a partnership with the intention to launch drones into orbit from Ōtautahi Christchurch. It is speculated that these drones would have the capacity for modification to allow military defense capabilities.
It is yet unclear whether these discussions involve the use of the Tāwhaki base or the development of a new launch site.
The discovery of this information coincides with Stop the Space Waste!’s upcoming protest against the Aerospace Summit, set to be hosted at Te Pae Convention Centre this coming Monday and Tuesday.
Stop the Space Waste! states that they are deeply concerned by the information that US military interests and ChristchurchNZ may be in talks. “A plan to launch drones with military capability for US interests, if carried out, would make Ōtautahi culpable in US imperialism and violent military dominance. Ōtautahi must uphold its reputation as a peace city by ending these negotiations immediately”, said a spokesperson.