On June 20, 2025, representatives of the governments of Canada and Australia signed a landmark technology partnership arrangement, a critical milestone in the rapid development and deployment of Canada's A-OTHR system.
Through this arrangement, Australian industry partners will work with Canadian companies to build expertise and capacity in Canada, grow our domestic sovereign defence industry, support high-paying Canadian jobs, and help Canada scale up its own radar system and technology.
Canada's Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) system is a key component of Canada's North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) modernization plan and will provide advanced early warning, enable faster detection and decision making by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for airborne threats, and provide long-range surveillance to meet Canada's domestic and continental security needs.
After careful consideration, Canada determined that a technology partnership with the Government of Australia, which currently operates one of the most advanced Over-the-Horizon Radar capabilities in the world, would provide the best solution for strengthening CAF domain awareness of Canada's northern approaches. It will also quickly deliver a crucial capability to the CAF and NORAD commanders.
The first stage of the A-OTHR program will deliver an initial capability by the end of 2029.
