US, Canada advance with over-the-horizon radar programmes to close NORAD surveillance gaps
Canadian Army soldiers stage a Medium Range Radar assembly at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. (Photo: US Air Force)
Washington and Ottawa’s Arctic and homeland radar initiatives aim to strengthen early warning against cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons and long-range aerospace threats approaching North America.
As the strategic environment in the Arctic and North America becomes increasingly complex, the US and Canada have been moving forward with efforts to access over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) capabilities and address longstanding surveillance gaps within the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) architecture.
While the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) announced a C$2.5 billion (US$1.76 billion) contract award on 22 June to BAE Systems Australia for the establishment of an Arctic OTHR (A-OTHR), the US Air Force (USAF) published a request for information (RfI) on 19 June seeking industry input for the planning, procurement, integration, testing and fielding of a
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