Australia to sell long-range radar tech to Canada in $1.75 billion deal

Australia has turned one of its most secretive defense systems into an export, sealing a A$2.5 billion, or about $1.75 billion, agreement to sell over-the-horizon radar technology to Canada. The deal is Australia’s largest ever defense export and the first international sale of its Jindalee-based radar capability, a sign that Canberra sees advanced surveillance gear as a strategic industry as much as a military asset.

The agreement was signed as a government-to-government arrangement and is designed to deliver Canada’s Arctic over-the-horizon radar capability, or A-OTHR, as part of its NORAD modernization effort. Canadian officials say the system is central to tracking activity across the far north, where much of Russia’s Arctic territory faces Canada and Alaska, and where long-range detection has become a priority for both homeland defense and allied warning networks.

Australia’s JORN system, which underpins the export, uses three high-frequency radars at Longreach in Queensland, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and Laverton in Western Australia, along with an operations centre at Edinburgh in South Australia. Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group says the system provides wide-area surveillance at ranges of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometers, with the ability to detect and track aircraft, ships and missiles over long distances.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the arrangement marked a significant milestone and laid the foundation for deeper defense industry cooperation. Defence Minister Richard Marles, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy and other Australian officials have framed the project as proof that domestic technology can compete internationally, while the Defence Department said in April that the Canada partnership could become Australia’s biggest defense export in history.

The industrial payoff is immediate. The Australian government said the agreement would support about 300 high-value technical jobs, and BAE Systems Australia is set to begin delivery of Canada’s A-OTHR capability on July 1, 2026. Officials also said the export includes a framework for joint research and development, extending the relationship beyond a single sale into a longer-term technology partnership.

Canada has said the first stage of its A-OTHR program will deliver an initial capability by the end of 2029. The program will ultimately require four sites, including two transmit sites and two receive sites, with the first two selected in July 2025 in Kawartha Lakes and Clearview Township, Ontario. Initial work there was expected to begin in winter 2026. The radar purchase sits inside Canada’s C$38.6 billion, 20-year NORAD modernization plan, announced in June 2022, which also includes Polar OTHR, Crossbow and space-based surveillance.

Stephen Fuhr, Canada’s secretary of state for defense procurement, said the project is part of an integrated Arctic surveillance and communications network built to improve the country’s ability to monitor, understand and respond to activity in the region. For Australia, the deal shows a middle power moving from buyer to exporter in a defense market increasingly shaped by Arctic warning, Indo-Pacific surveillance and the push for allies to rely less on foreign systems.