OTTAWA 鈥� Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 decision to put his country鈥檚 nuclear arsenal on high alert last weekend has sparked hope that Ottawa and Washington will finally act with urgency in upgrading North America鈥檚 defences.
Successive Canadian and American governments have been promising for years to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or Norad, which was first created during the Cold War to protect against a Soviet attack.
Yet despite increasingly urgent warnings from senior military commanders on both sides of the border about the need to address a growing number of gaps in North America鈥檚 defences, many are still waiting for sa国际传媒 to act.
Norad commander U.S. Gen. Glen VanHerck this week highlighted the growing threat that North America faces as Russia and China develop and field long-range weapons that can hit sa国际传媒 or the United States, and which the current system can鈥檛 detect.
Those include nuclear and non-nuclear weapons such as hypersonic and cruise missiles, which Putin put on high alert last weekend in retaliation for NATO鈥檚 support of Ukraine.
Appearing before a Congressional committee on Tuesday, VanHerck said the long-held assumption that sa国际传媒 and the U.S. could deploy forces at will because of the continent鈥檚 geographic safety 鈥渋s eroding 鈥� and has been eroding for more than a decade.鈥�
As adversaries continue to field faster and longer-ranged weapons, he added, 鈥渨e must improve our ability to detect and track potential threats anywhere in the world while delivering data to decision makers as rapidly as possible.鈥�
The federal Liberal government insists modernizing Norad is a top priority. To that end, sa国际传媒 and the U.S. have issued several joint statements over the years affirming the need to upgrade the system. Ottawa also set aside an initial $163 million for the effort last year.
Yet while the U.S. has been pressing ahead on a number of fronts, including the deployment of new missile interceptors and artificial intelligence to merge data from a variety of different sources to detect an attack, sa国际传媒 has been largely silent.
鈥淲here do we stand?鈥� said University of Manitoba professor James Fergusson, one of sa国际传媒鈥檚 leading experts on Norad. 鈥淣o one seems to know. Or if they know, they're not saying where we stand.鈥�
During a trip to Ottawa in December, VanHerck told reporters he was awaiting political direction on upgrading sa国际传媒鈥檚 key contribution to Norad, a string of radars built in the Canadian Arctic in the 1980s called the North Warning System.
Military officials have been cautioning for years that the North Warning System, which was built to detect Russian bombers approaching North America from over the Arctic, is obsolete because of the development of missiles with increasingly longer ranges.
鈥淚t's kind of like having a big house and leaving your back two bedrooms unlocked,鈥� said retired general Tom Lawson, who was Norad deputy commander before serving as sa国际传媒鈥檚 chief of the defence staff from 2012-2015.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 even see the Canadian Arctic archipelago. You could be doing anything you want flying over there.鈥�
Asked last week whether VanHerck has been given the needed political direction, Defence Minister Anita Anand said she has had several discussions with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about Norad modernization and the North Warning System.
But she did not provide any other specifics, and instead noted that the federal government awarded a $592-million contract in January to an Inuit-owned company, Nasittuq Corp., to operate and maintain the system鈥檚 long- and short-range radars.
One of the reasons progress has been slow is the rapid pace of technological change, which makes it difficult to predict what threats the system needs to protect against. That includes the role that cyber defence and space will play in the future.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot of background work being done, which of course is not sexy,鈥� said Andrea Charron, another leading Norad expert at the University of Manitoba.
鈥淚t鈥檚 looking at over-the-horizon radar systems for North Warning System and in some cases anticipating technology that hasn鈥檛 actually come into its own yet.鈥�
But there has also been a sense that while Ottawa says Norad modernization is a priority, it鈥檚 not a top priority. This has been evidenced by a virtual lack of dedicated funding for the effort. Its costs were omitted from the Liberal government鈥檚 defence policy in 2017.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 controversial decision not to join the U.S. ballistic missile defence system also continues to cloud talk about the degree to which sa国际传媒 is willing to help intercept and destroy threats to North America, not just detect them as they approach the continent.
Charron said Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine is an example of the type of event that Norad commanders and others have long worried about when calling for an upgrade to the system.
鈥淏ecause if Russia felt boxed in, where are they going to hit?鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey're going to hit somewhere that is not very populated, and that speaks to the Arctic. "This is 'escalate to de-escalate.'鈥�
In other words, the fear is that Russia could launch a limited attack on North America鈥檚 Arctic and threaten a much bigger onslaught as a way to sue for peace. Alternatively, it could keep the U.S. and sa国际传媒 from sending reinforcements to NATO allies in Europe.
鈥淯kraine has made Norad even more important, because we are the back door to NATO,鈥� Charron said.
The hope for some is that Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine will serve as the catalyst for Ottawa to make Norad modernization a true priority with more dedicated funding in this year鈥檚 federal budget and moving ahead on some potentially controversial decisions.
鈥淗ere's a perfect moment to announce that we're coming on board with all forms of ballistic missile defence 鈥� and we are going to discuss the positioning of new radar systems and new missile interceptors on Canadian soil,鈥� said Lawson.
鈥淎nd, by the way, we are now announcing that we're buying F-35s, the first of which will be delivered four years from now. Now, all of a sudden, you're looking pretty beefy.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2022.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press
