Canada is Investing $3.8 Billion to Modernize North America Defence

Canada has invested 4.9 billion Canadian dollars (the US $3.8 billion) over the next six years to modernize its aging defense system in North America. The announcement at the Ontario Air Force Base comes with a number of warnings from US and Canadian military officials and experts that NORAD clearly indicates its age.

Defense Minister Anita Anand said the funding was the first of an estimated 40 billion Canadian dollars to be spent over the next 20 years to upgrade the joint early warning system between the two countries. The US and Canada are known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command and procure other military assets to protect the continent.

Anand said as autocracies threaten the rules-based international order that has protected them for decades and our competitors develop new technologies such as hypersonic weapons and advanced cruise missiles, there is an urgent need to modernize Canada's NORAD capabilities.

Anand has promised a strong investment package to upgrade the system, established in the 1950s, to detect air and sea threats to North America, including missiles and aircraft.

The new funding will include plans to build new radar arrays to detect threats from the Arctic, as well as command and control systems, advanced air-to-air missiles, and other systems.