Vanguard Magazine

Vanguard June/July 2022

Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR

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16 JUNE/JULY 2022 www.vanguardcanada.com COMMAND AND CONTROL COMMAND AND CONTROL: BY TERRENCE LEVERSEDGE AN EVERCHANGING LANDSCAPE T wo recent announcements concerning the Royal Ca- nadian Air Force's (RCAF) command and control en- hancements probably went unnoticed by most of the Canadian public. On June 20, 2022, the Minister of Na- tional Defence (MND) announced that Canada is "investing $4.9 billion over the next six years to modernize our continen- tal defences, and, to protect Canadians from new and emerging threats". Then on July 22, the Commander of the RCAF announced the "establishment of 3 Cana- dian Space Division, which also included the re-establishment of 7 Wing (Ottawa), comprising 7 Space Operations Squadron and 7 Operations Support Squadron, in order to provide comprehensive space- based data capabilities and data in support of CF operations. listic missile and cruise missile technolo- gies and now with the potential addition of hypersonic missiles [which Russia has recently operationally deployed in its con- flict with Ukraine] has rendered this "line in the sand" technology increasingly ob- solete. NORAD must now prioritize mis- sile warning, missile defence, cruise / hy- personic cruise missile and/or hypersonic glide weapon threats to close the capability gaps and to provide a credible deterrence moving forward. The overall NORAD Modernization program is therefore a large-scale "moving target," and our deci- sion-makers have been left scrambling to meet both already existing challenges and those now emerging. The government's / RCAF's recent announcements are there- fore both very positive steps forward in enhancing both NORAD's and Canada's command and control capabilities. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is responsible for the aerospace defence of this conti- nent and also warns of maritime threats approaching North America. This bi- national, US / Canadian, command has continuously evolved from originally just deterring Soviet long-range bomb- ers during the Cold War, to counter- drug operations, to countering terrorist organizations in the wake of 9/11, and is now trying to address the latest high- tech cruise missile and ballistic missile threats. At the heart of these operations is the need for superlative command and control. NORAD's North Warning Sys- tem (NWS) currently primarily uses a set of "trip wire" radar stations spread across both Alaska and Canada's North in or- der to provide advanced warning of any threats. But the rapid escalation of bal-

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