In a sudden move, new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that his country will purchase a version of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN). A number of countries have been interested in the technology for decades, but this is the first known sale of the Australian system.
It uses High Frequency radio signals refracted by the ionosphere and can detect and track targets thousands of kilometres away. The Australian system became fully operational early this century, though tests with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) date back to the late 1970s and took place in the Northern Territory.
Earlier than that, the Post Master General (the precursor to Telecom, now Telstra) and private operates in the Outback had developed world-leading skills in the design and use of HF radio for long distance communications as far back as 1920. The UK fielded an early HF radar system in the late 1930s code named Chain Home, and these played a vital role in providing early warming of Luftwaffe aircraft during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
There are many unknowns about the Canadian deal because it has been negotiated government-to-government and prime contractor BAE Systems Australia is not authorised to speak with the media. Consequently, it is unclear why the news came out during a speech given by the Canadian PM rather than being announced locally at the same time. Australian PM Anthony Albanese made no mention of the deal when posting a summary on X (formerly Twitter) following a conversation with his Canadian counterpart.
According to the Canadians, the order is worth $6 billion (AU $6.6 billion) and that represents a huge export opportunity not only for BAE Systems Australia but also Lockheed Martin Australia and their network of domestic suppliers.
The sensitivity might be explained by the fact that US companies have been interested in supplying HF radar technology for some time because such systems can monitor large swaths of Russian and Chinese territory by looking north across the polar regions. If Canada has chosen the Australia solution to poke a finger in the eye of US companies it is possible that the Trump administration will show some irritation.
President Donald Trump has managed to enrage almost all Canadians with demands that their country should be the 51st US State. Given that Canada is also considering cancelling or scaling back their order of 88 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, this might be kicking Trump where it really hurts.
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Should probably point that radar South.
Exactly.
Hopefully Canada learns from Australia’s half arsed approach, by matching its long range detection capability with a genuine air, sea & land based long range range strike/intercept capacity.
Canadian government policy precludes first strike capability.
Over the horizon technology is a proven technology.
The US and Canada do joint scrambles from Alaska and Cold Lake AB for air breathers.
Missed launches if detected early gives NORAD ans US spaces command time to react.
Remember the B52s and cruise missile systems US , UK and French Boomers are cruising the world oceans. This does not count the subs under the article ice.
MAD is still in affect. The over horizon radar systems on the east coast. Alaska and Greenland are also a deterrent . .
Forgive me for my ignorance, but is not BAE Systems Australia and Lockheed Australia both owned by their respective companies?
Doesn’t it just work like the car manufactures? ie Toyota has divisions all over the world that design and manufacture cars for their respective locations? ie Toyota in Europe designs cars for Europe and builds them their (obviously with some exceptions) market. But Toyota HQ in Japan still benefits from the capital profits flowing through and the technology with could be used in cars designed in other markets.
Or am I completely wrong and they are completely independent in the same way as Kmart in Australia is completely independent from Kmart in the States?
You are correct that the corporate owners are in the UK and the US, respectively. This is the situation for all of the big defence contractors in Australia – Northrop Grumman, Thales, Raytheon, Saab, Kongsberg, etc. You have to go a way down the list before you come across Australian-owned companies such as NIOA, CEA and EOS. The amount of autonomy the foreign-owned companies have is always an interesting topic to debate and (having worked for a couple of them) varies quite a bit depending on the particular contract and also on the prevailing corporate culture. As a sweeping generalisation, the European-owned companies seem to have more flexibility in how they operate; the US-owned entities can be more tightly controlled, but not necessarily in every case. A rough rule of thumb to measure independence (or lack of it) is to see who has the authority to spend money – the local subsidiary or whether everything has to be approved by the corporate Death Star on another continent. Even the foreign-owned entities have Australian boards, and the vast majority of employees are Australian citizens. In the case of some very sensitive technologies, there are mechanisms for Australian eyes only carve-outs. I hope that helps – it’s a very complex area.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply, much appreciated.
I guess being defence, Government regulations and laws could also firewall them to some degree as well.
I think you were supposed to put this up on the 1st of April! Definitely a huge for Australia here, even if the positive impacts on our own defence industry will be relatively minor. Canada is one of the few countries with the landmass available to set up an Over the Horizon radar network so I’m not sure there are any more opportunities for further export to other countries outside a multilateral NATO system (and to be honest the europeans would probably prefer to develop their own system). A properly positioned and OTH radar could monitor most of the Arctic Circle. Here’s hoping this leads to improvements to JORN as well.