(OTTAWA) National Defense Minister Anita Anand will announce a modernization of continental defense capabilities on Monday.
Posted at 4:18 p.m.
Updated at 6:50 p.m.
The press conference will take place at Trenton Air Force Base, Ontario.
US and Canadian military officials and experts had warned of the state of NORAD’s defenses in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Mme Anand has been saying for several months that the government has been preparing a series of investments for NORAD, the Canada-US military organization that monitors the continent’s air and sea space.
The Minister and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau restated those promises during their visit to NORAD headquarters in Colorado earlier this month. They didn’t give any details.
The federal government has already indicated that part of the $8 billion provided for in the last budget for national defense would be reserved for NORAD. This could include a new long-range radar system to detect any threat coming through the Arctic.
Mme Anand also said last month that the government was considering joining the US-established missile defense system that Canada gave up in 2005.
“We need Canada”
The lack of concrete action in Canada has not gone unnoticed in the United States, points out Andrea Charron, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and one of Canada’s leading NORAD experts.
“We need Canada to achieve certain things. If we were previously ready to be patient by telling ourselves that gestures would be made, today, we are at the end of our patience, ”she mentions.
This growing impatience is demonstrated by the visit of several senior American officials to Ottawa. It also surfaced last spring during congressional hearings in Washington.
Asked in March about Canada’s involvement in continental defence, NORAD Commander US General Glen VanHerck said Canada was “making decisions”.
“I can’t wait to see what comes out of it,” he added.
In August 2021, Harjit Sajjan, then Minister of National Defense, and his American counterpart Lloyd Austin issued a joint communiqué, mentioning numerous priorities, including maintaining the North Warning System until it can be changed by suitable replacement capacities.
Earlier this year, Canadian defense system companies were notified of plans to install a next-generation over-the-horizon radar system that can significantly improve early warning and continuous surveillance of airspace and approaches to North America. This radar would be installed in southern Canada and could cost up to $1 billion.
Retired General Tom Lawson, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of NORAD, says the North Warning System needs replacing. It is one of the many areas of continental defense requiring investment.
Today, all concrete measures will be welcome.
“If they announce additional investments of one or two billion dollars over the next five years, I would be a happy man,” he says.