Trenton, Canada ( Associated Press) — Canada is spending 4.9 billion Canadian dollars ($3.8 billion) over the next six years to modernize North America’s aging defense systems.
Defense Minister Anita Anand announced Monday that it is the first of an estimated 40 billion Canadian dollars ($31 billion) to be spent over the next 20 years to modernize the joint early warning system for the United States and Canada. Known as North American Air. Defense Command (NORAD), and the acquisition of other military assets to defend the continent.
The announcement at an Air Force base in Ontario comes amid several warnings from US and Canadian military officials and experts that NORAD is showing its age.
Anand said, “Since autocracy is a threat to the rules-based international order it has protected for decades, and our competitors develop new technologies such as hypersonic weapons and advanced cruise missiles, Canada’s NORAD capabilities There is an urgent need to modernize it.”
Anand promised a robust investment package to upgrade a system built in the 1950s that is tasked with detecting air and maritime threats reaching North America, including missiles and aircraft.
The new funding will include plans to build new radar networks that will detect threats flying over the Arctic, as well as command and control systems, advanced air-to-air missiles and more.
“Canada can no longer rely on its geography to protect Canadians,” he said.
