Australia, Canada Sign Radar Deal      06/22 06:19

   

   MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australia and Canada signed a $1.75 billion 
export agreement on Monday to build an Australian-designed long-range radar 
system in Canada.

   Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Canadian Secretary of State 
(Defense Procurement) Stephen Fuhr signed the first phase of a pact to provide 
early warning radar coverage from the Canada-United States border into the 
Arctic.

   "What this really means is that Australia and Canada are now partners in 
terms of the future development of the Over-the-Horizon Radar," Marles told 
reporters at the Australian Parliament House in the capital Canberra.

   "There is now a very strategic dimension to the relationship," Marles added.

   Fuhr said the two British Commonwealth countries, both of which are partners 
in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes the United 
States, Britain and New Zealand, had "stood shoulder-to-shoulder for 
generations."

   "As the world adjusts to its new strategic and economic realities, I can't 
think of a stronger partner to work with more than Australia," Fuhr said at a 
joint press conference with Marles.

   Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he'd chosen Australia's radar 
system over comparable U.S. technology shortly after he came to power last year.

   In March, Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to visit Australia 
in 12 years.

   During the visit, Carney and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese 
agreed to increase cooperation on defense technologies, artificial intelligence 
and critical minerals.

   BAE Systems Australia said in a statement it will support both governments 
in developing the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar.

   The Australian system, developed over 40 years, works by refracting 
high-frequency electromagnetic waves off the ionosphere to detect distant 
objects that are invisible to conventional radars because of Earth's curvature.

   The deal is Australia's largest ever defense export. Australia's previous 
record defense export was a $700 million deal signed in 2024 to provide Germany 
with 100 Australian-made Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles.