U.S. wants sensors in Arctic
Targets more than missiles
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, U.S. military COLORADO officials have shed some light on what Canada could contribute to the missile-defence program should it choose to join after a decade spent on the sidelines.
Several conversations with high-ranking U.S. military officers point to a common desire: multi-purpose sensors in Canada’s Arctic that would sniff out a wider range of potential threats than just intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Those state-of-the-art systems would be designed to track maritime vessels, airplanes and small cruise missiles — all in addition to any large missile fired off by North Korea or some hypothetical rogue state.
U.S. military brass are aware that the missile-defence debate has been revived in Canada, nine years after political pressure prompted the Paul Martin government to abstain.
“We respectfully want them to have all the space and time to consider it now that it’s been brought to the table, it seems,” said U.S. Gen. Charles Jacoby, who heads Norad. Since the Arctic horizon is a highpotential route for incoming missiles, so-called longrange discrimination radar — which tracks objects with greater precision than the current system — would make sense, he added.
“I think both countries no longer care to invest in single-mission, one-trick-pony capabilities. So we would want multi-mission kinds of sensors up there.”
A new partnership on ballistic missile defence would “open up the door for all kinds of conversations” about deeper Canada-U.S. co-operation, said Brig.Gen. Matt Molloy, the U.S. general who oversees the missile-defence unit under Jacoby.
“Our polar approach, it’s a vulnerability,” Molloy said.
“That polar approach is of supreme importance to North American defence. And that is, I think, a great area to look at — what we can do with sensor capacity up there. There’s room for capacity up there.”
Japan, Australia, and several European countries have already signed on to join the missile-defence program. In Canada, a Senate committee has endorsed the idea, but the Conservative government has said little.