10 Comments
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Andrea Charron's avatar

So helpful thank you. It is frustrating when names of projects are changed without overt reference to the change so appreciate this analysis.

Noah's avatar

YW! I know it can be frustrating lol. Thats why I try to put it out there. It's especially hard because not only is NorthWatch a change, but an expansion on P-OTHR with SB-AMTI. Doubly whammy in those cases.

Fraser Barnes's avatar

Short, sharp, concise AND positive. Hope the Ottawa Citizen doesn’t take on the subject too.

Noah's avatar

I would be scared to see them try

Scott Carter's avatar

“A sovereign, Canadian solution to continental defence”. I love that line!

Harry Neutel's avatar

Woo! That was inspirational and aspirational. It raised my spirits, even as my stomach dropped at the difficulties and challenges involved. I believe we can do it, but there is a part of me that keeps whispering, "but we probably won't..."

I really, really want Canada to be a space nation. I remember in high school dreaming about a Canadian spaceport, after some article or another about a dream that didn't pan out. I'm older and more cynical now, but that dreaming youngster is still in here somewhere, and this write up poked him a little. Thanks for that!

Dave Love's avatar

Noah:

Article IV s.3 of the NORAD Agreement says, "Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon twelve months’ written notice to the other Party."

Is the NorthWatch Initiative an expression of sovereignty as a pathway for Canada's withdrawal from NORAD?

Care to make a prediction on when PM Carney teases the US with this notion?

Brian's avatar

Useless if it doesn't face south and a waste of money .

Michael Peterson's avatar

I appreciated the context for this article. Not sure if this project is tied to the construction planned in Clearview Township near Barrie, Ontario, but as a resident up here, I've been struyck for the last year by the No DND Radar in Clearview Township oposition I see in posted signs on private property. There;s also a large social media campaign. Seems like NIMBYism on steroids mixed in with rumours about radiation poisoning the ground for generations. The locakl hysterics make me wonder if there is some hostile money being funnelled to this movement.

Elizaisacat's avatar

Good piece, Noah. Thank you. Notwithstanding individual platform acquisitions, I hope that Canada can deepen ties with Sweden and begin adopting some of its mindset when it comes to technological self-sufficiency. That doesn't mean autarky, but it does mean a default cultural position of wanting to acquire and maintain the capability to do the things national survival (and wellbeing) requires.

By way of example, this doesn't necessarily mean developing an independent jet engine development and manufacturing industry, but it does mean securing licenses to build foreign-design jet engines domestically and adapting them, sometimes radically, for domestic use. The prime example of this is the Volvo RM8 afterburning turbofan engine from the Saab 37 Viggen, which started life as the JT8D of 727 and DC9 short-haul commercial airliner fame.