Canada has signed a $6.5 billion agreement to acquire Australia’s cutting-edge Jindalee Over-the-Horizon Radar (JORN) technology, securing its Arctic surveillance capabilities amid growing tensions with the US.
As per ABC, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the purchase during a visit to Nunavut and said, “Today, I’m announcing that our government will be working with our long-standing defence and security partner Australia to build a new, long-range, over-the-horizon military radar system. It will enable Canada to detect and respond to both air and maritime threats over our Arctic both faster and from further away.”
The deal comes as Canada face pressure from the US to increase defence spending. The new system will support the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which monitors potential threats across the continent. Carney’s swift action follows US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, where his renewed threats to annex Canada and Greenland have heightened security concerns.
JORN, considered the most advanced radar system of its kind, allows wide-area surveillance up to 3,000 kilometres away. Unlike conventional radars, which rely on line of sight, JORN uses high-frequency signals that bounce off the ionosphere, enabling it to detect targets beyond the horizon.
For months, Australian officials had been in talks about selling JORN to the US, but uncertainty arose due to the “DOGE audit” led by Elon Musk, which scrutinised Pentagon spending.
According to ABC, an Australian official said that “the Canadians were always going to follow the US purchase and slipstream off that, but circumstances changed and things moved quickly.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the deal, saying, “It’s important that we diversify our trade relationships, and Canada is a very important one.” Meanwhile, defence minister Richard Marles described it as “potentially the biggest defence industry export that Australia has ever been a part of.”
As per ABC, the UK has also expressed interest in acquiring JORN technology but has yet to approve a purchase.
