Canada shoots down Alliant space deal

Edina-based Alliant Techsystems — maker of everything from bullets to cluster bombs to satellite equipment — has had its bid to buy Canada’s top aerospace firm shot down. The Canadian government rejected the $1.325 billion sale of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates’ satellite and space systems because it deemed it did not offer a “net benefit” to the country.

The deal saw intense media scrutiny and domestic pressure on several fronts, including charges that the sale to a US firm would put Canada in violation of the international landmine-ban treaty (Canada signed on, the US didn’t). Perhaps a more prevalent fear is that the sale would put sensitive technologies — like MDA’s Radarsat-2, a remote sensing satellite that monitors the country’s Arctic region (pictured) — under the purview of the US government and its security laws. It’s a historic, yet possibly temporary, ruling. Canada has never before blocked the sale of a domestic company to a foreign buyer, Reuters reports, but Alliant has 30 days to contest the sale and stands a good chance of having the decision overturned.