Vanguard Magazine

T H E LA S T W O R D www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2025 53 Ellesmere Island, which may some day re- quire combat air support. The North Warning System (NWS), that line of 46 air defence radars stretching from Alaska to the eastern tip of Labrador, is still active, but its short-range radars, based on 1970s technology, are essentially obsolete. They are, on average, located some 1,700 km south from the northern tip of the CADIZ. There are federal plans to deploy one Polar Over the Horizon Radar and one Arctic Over the Horizon Radar. When operational they will finally monitor Canadian airspace north of the NWS line and provide NORAD with that additional critical time to assess a threat and take appropriate action. These radars will not be in operation for many years. After long political delays, Can- ada is finally acquiring the F-35, a modern, reliable, and agile fighter aircraft. Another of the bright spots is that the new P-8A Poseidon long range maritime patrol aircraft will improve our anti-submarine warfare and maritime sur- veillance following the great service of the CP-140 Au- rora. Also, the new MQ-9B long range drones presently under construction will be a great addition for monitoring the Arctic and increase the all important "domain awareness", which is lacking in the Canadian Arc- tic according to the Auditor General of Canada in its 2023 Report Number 6. I find that the threat "to the Arctic" is too often minimized. Recent NORAD commanders have emphasized that the Arctic is critical for the defence of North America. Intercontinental missiles, hyper- sonic cruise missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles coming from the mainland of Russia, North Korea and China, the three main adversaries of the USA, would come through the Arctic. Apart from missiles on the CF-18 fighter aircraft, there are no land-based air defence weapons deployed anywhere in Canada to intercept those weapons or to protect our arctic strategic defence assets. At the beginning of hostilities, would the aggres- sors not try to take out Canadian Forces Station Alert, the Arctic Over the Horizon and Polar Over the Horizon radars, or key elements of the North Warning System such as its control center in North Bay to blind NORAD? What do we have at the moment to protect those strategic assets and obvious targets? Those are serious threats to the Arctic. Our Royal Canadian Navy's capabilities in the Arctic Archipelago have recently im- proved significantly with the deployment of the new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ves- sels. Although very lightly armed, they are a physical presence on the Arctic Ocean with a capability to call on air power if need be. The planned addition of a helicopter and towed anti-submarine suite of sensors would greatly increase their deterrence ca- pabilities. Vice-Admiral Topshee recently stated that the AOPVs have "the capacity to install other weapons in a sort of ad hoc manner". I am not convinced that those additional weapon systems are actually in our inventories and ready to be deployed. The promise of new submarines with un- der-ice capability was good news given the age of our current submarines and their in- ability to go safely under ice. We also need to expedite the deployment of drones to perform surveillance under the ice. What if a group of Russian Spetsnaz spe- cial forces was to take over CFS Alert and Potential Ballistic Missile Trajectories from North Korea, China and Russia BOOTH 901 DAY ZERO INTEROPERABILITY Here at CANSEC Join us at CANSEC 2025 to discover our cutting- edge communications solutions for the defence and military sectors. Meet our team of experts who will be on hand to showcase our innovations. Discover Base Camp Connect basecampconnect.com BUILT WITH PRIDE IN CANADA

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