Anand issued the long-awaited announcement of the NORAD upgrade to the Canadian Army’s main air base in Trenton, Ont. The figure represents Canada’s share of the cost of overhauling the decades-old Joint Transnational Air Defense Command, which was originally designed to look after Soviet bombers. The project was not part of the Liberal Government’s 2017 defense policy document. The United States covers about 60 percent of the NORAD bill. Defense Secretary Wayne Eyre watches Secretary of Defense Anita Anand address a press conference on April 25, 2022 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press) The nature of NORAD has changed in recent years, as it has taken on additional responsibilities for monitoring maritime transport approaches in North America and protecting against cyber attacks. NORAD overhaul will include the replacement of the North Warning System, a chain of radar stations in the Far North. The system will eventually be replaced by two different types of radar systems – one north, one polar – that have the ability to look beyond the horizon. The overhaul will also develop new satellites built to track moving targets on the ground and a top-secret range of remote sensors. The new network will monitor not only the Arctic – the traditional NORAD sector – but also the Pacific and Atlantic approaches to the continent. Military experts have long warned that NORAD’s current surveillance system is not designed to track cruise missiles – weapons fired from submarines or outside North American airspace. It is also not tuned to deal with supersonic missiles, which travel at many times the speed of sound. Both weapons systems have been prominent in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The threat environment has changed,” Anand said in response to a reporter’s question Monday.
