Canada will fork out $2.5bn for a world-leading Australian radar system in what is Australia’s biggest-ever defence export deal, the Albanese government has announced.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles unveiled the “historic” agreement on Monday alongside the Canadian secretary charged with buying military gear.
Spruiking it as supporting “a thousand direct and indirect jobs”, Mr Marles said the deal also locked Canberra and Ottawa in as defence industry partners, and Australia would now benefit from major Canadian investments just as Canada had reaped gains from Australian cash.
“Of course, Australia and Canada have always been the very best of friends, but really, with what we have signed today, there is now a very significant strategic dimension to the relationship,” he told reporters at Parliament House, adding that “it builds on the uplifting of the defence and security relationship”.
“Today’s agreement really is a historic moment for Australia’s defence industry, but it is also a historic moment in the bilateral relationship between Australia and Canada.”
Defence Minister Richard Marles and Canada’s defence procurement chief Stephen Fuhr have inked a $2.5bn defence deal. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
The deal came after months of work developing the Over the Horizon Radar (OTHR) system for Canada’s Arctic territory.
The technology, built and used in Australia, can pick up aircraft and ships between up to 3000km from Australia’s northern coastline.
Greeting Mr Marles as a “partner”, Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr said Australia and Canada had “stood should to shoulder for generations as the world adjusts to its new strategic and economic realities”.
“I can’t think of a stronger partner to work with more than Australia,” he said.
He said the OTHR would “enhance Canada’s Arctic domain awareness and reinforce Canada’s Arctic sovereignty” – a key security concern, as melting ice in the North Pole opens passages for Russia’s nuclear-armed fleet.
