Australia, Canada announce $4B over horizon radar agreement

An aerial view of a Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) transmitter site at Laverton, Western Australia. JORN is a network of three over-the-horizon radars that can detect aircraft and ships between 1,000 and 3,000 km from the northern coastline of mainland Australia. (Australian MoD)

SYDNEY — Australia is poised for its largest defense sale ever, exporting its Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to Canada, at a cost estimated at more than $6 billion CAN ($4 billion USD).

In a surprise development, Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, spoke with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese overnight and decided to buy the radar, according to government statements. The United States and Australia had been in talks about the over the horizon network, but Canada now appears to have leapt over America’s head, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which first reported the story.

“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,” said Carney. “[It] will enable Canada to detect and respond to both air and maritime threats over our Arctic both faster and from further away. It will most fundamentally keep all Canadians safe.”

An official statement from Carney’s office described JORN as “a key component of Canada’s NORAD modernization plan” to detect and deter threats across the country’s vast northern reaches. “Collaboration with Australia on this critical technology,” the statement says, “will further deepen our long-standing bilateral defense relationship, while supporting Canada’s commitment to strengthening North American defenses in partnership with the United States.”

Albanese confirmed the discussions during a press conference today but did not provide any details.

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge here,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters this morning in the northern Queensland city of Cairns, “but in collaborating with Canada in relation to this technology and working closely with them, what is in prospect here is the single biggest defense industry export from Australia in our history. So this is a really, really big opportunity for the nation.”

Marles also said Australia still hopes the United States will purchase JORN technology. BAE Systems Australia is managing a $1.2 billion AUD upgrade to the system, known as the Phase 6 upgrade, which involves hardware and software enhancements as well as sustainment support out to 2028, according to company literature.

JORN monitors sea and air across 37,000 square kilometers, up to 3,000 km away. Unlike traditional radar, which sends a signal and then reads back the return, JORN bounces its signal off the ionosphere, making possible its much greater range.

Jindalee, the system’s original name, is an aboriginal word for a place the eye cannot see.

Notably, Albanese pointed to the importance of Australia diversifying its trade relationships. While he didn’t mention the tariffs President Donald Trump has ordered on Australia, there has been increasing discussion here about the solidity of the alliance and the relationship between the two treaty allies.

“It’s important that we develop that diverse series of relationships and Canada is a very important one, we have so much in common,” he said. Among the things the two countries have in common is that they are treaty allies with the US, have strong economic relationships. Canada, of course, also is feeling tensions with Trump, who has called for it to become America’s 51st state.