New Delhi: The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), operated by Canada and the United States, has gaping holes in its airspace radar coverage. Ottawa went some way to filling those gaps when it signed four related agreements in June for a new radar system sourced from Australia.
The system is called the Arctic Over-The-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR), and the deal is worth some US$1.75 billion to Australia.
Gordon Frazer – Founder and CEO of the Australia-based HF radar technical services company FrazerLab – said Canada’s decision would fill an urgent need. “I used to say to people, you could fly a jumbo jet from Beijing to Canberra if it had its transponders off and no one would know,” he said, arguing the same is likely true for Canada.
“Russia could fly a Tu-95 from one of their bases, Engels Air Base or something like that, to Canada and possibly no one would know,” he added. “That’s why NORAD is so concerned, and why they’ve been pushing so hard to get this sort of technology done.”
