The Canadian defense minister promised to help the US improve North American missile defenses.
Ottawa has committed to investing at least $3.8 billion over the next six years to modernize the joint U.S.-Canadian early warning system known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Minister of Defense announced Monday. Defense, Anita Anand.
“As autocracies like Russia threaten the rules-based international order that has protected us for decades, our climate changes, and our competitors develop new technologies like hypersonic weapons and advanced cruise missiles, there is a pressing need to modernize NORAD’s capabilities. Canada”. Anand said quoted by CBC.
The initial investment of $3.8 billion (C$4.9 billion) is just the first part of an even more ambitious plan to spend up to $31 billion (C$40 billion) over the next two decades, Anand said. . He did not provide a specific breakdown of where the money will go, but he did name several areas the initiative will focus on, including an Arctic over-the-horizon radar system, a space-based surveillance project and a new system called “Crossbow” with early warning sensors deployed throughout the country.
Speaking at an air base in Trenton, Ontario, Anand repeatedly pointed to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine as the reason the Ottawa government decided to commit billions to upgrade the aging missile warning system.
“NORAD has continually adapted and evolved in response to new threats. Today we turn another page and begin the next chapter of NORAD.” Anand added, without providing a specific timeline and explaining that for now, all existing systems will remain active, until the expected upgrades are made.