Canada’s advanced Arctic over-the-horizon radar (A-OTHR) technology work with Australia advanced last month with a technology partnership arrangement between the two countries.
Government of Canada representatives stated this arrangement would allow Australian and Canadian companies to work together to “build expertise and capacity in Canada.” The partnership aims to increase opportunities for Canadian employment, as well as sovereign defense industry participants, while developing the radar system and technology.
“The Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar system is a vital step in strengthening Canada’s ability to defend its territory and assert its sovereignty in the north,” said Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, in the statement.
“By significantly enhancing long-range detection and domain awareness, this capability will ensure the Canadian Armed Forces and NORAD remain prepared to address emerging threats and safeguard our nation and continent.”
Initial capabilities of the radar system should be available by the end of the decade, and it will be proven out by using the same “technology and operational principles” as the Jindalee Operational Radar Network in Australia, officials added.
Australia’s system bounces electromagnetic waves off the ionosphere, allowing operators to look at objects beyond the curvature of the Earth. Canada, the U.S. and many other countries have done science and tech work with this phenomenon since at least the 1950s, but Australia frames itself as the “world leader” in this type of technology, on its website.
Canada’s system is part of a larger push towards NORAD modernization, the statement emphasized. “Canada is investing in enhanced surveillance, command, control, communications, research, and development including modernized air weapons systems and infrastructure,” it said, with A-OTHR framed as “a key contribution to the defence of North America through NORAD.”
The work builds on an announcement between the two countries in March, which then valued the partnership at $6 billion. Australia and Canada also released a joint statement in November 2024 (three weeks after the most recent U.S. election) on the subject of collaboration about missile defence.
It would be tempting to link this work with very recent U.S. requests for NATO partners to increase their defense spending, as well as the new American “Golden Dome” system being discussed that is currently galvanizing industry to create products geared for missile defence systems.
Modernizing Canada’s over-the-horizon radar, however, has been very actively in the works for three years; it accelerated after reported hypersonic weapon development from Russia and China, especially in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion early in 2022.
A few months after the invasion, the Canadian government stated it planned to spend at least $4.9 billion for the first six years of the radar project, and $38.6 billion over 20 years on an accrual basis, with functioning of these projects expected in the 2030s.
Canada’s industry was vocal in hearings in 2024 at the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence, asking for more spending (Canada’s is low compared to Western countries of its stature) and more strategic direction. Canada pledged to activate a National Space Council in Budget 2024 to provide that direction. That year it also released a defence policy – “Our North, Strong and Free” – that included a promise to improve the surveillance systems of the Canadian Armed Forces, among other things.
