Washington: Despite tensions with its northern neighbour on the joint project, the US appears to be proceeding with plans for a new constellation of radars to defend the homeland, and is scouting possible sites in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon to host the long-range sensors, according to a recent public notice.
On April 18, the Air Force revealed officials were beginning to prepare an environmental impact statement concerning the construction of over-the-horizon (OTHR) radars, listing one site each in Idaho and Nevada and three in Oregon as potential hosts. Barring any potential issues, the Air Force would acquire land from the five locations listed to build two OTHR systems, the notice published in the Federal Register says [PDF].
The new OTHR architecture was envisioned as a partnership with Canada to modernise NORAD’s defences, where original plans would reportedly see Washington procure four radar systems and Ottawa two. The OTHRs are needed, officials have said, to improve domain awareness. The radars can see beyond the curvature of the earth — reaching further than the range of other radar systems that rely on line-of-sight detection — and in this case would be oriented toward the north to help detect threats like low-flying cruise missiles launched by adversaries such as Russia.
The modern air defence architecture would also likely play a key part in President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome homeland defence project, which calls for a multilayer defensive architecture spanning the ground to space to defend against threats ranging from drones to missiles.
But it’s unclear how the project may proceed under new political uncertainties introduced by the Trump administration, which have strained ties between Washington and Ottawa. The newly tense relations appear to have had an impact on the OTHR program, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced in March that the Canadian government would procure the new radar technology from Australia, apparently leapfrogging the US in the process.
