As part of Canada’s $38.6 billion plan to modernize North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in the next two decades, the Department of National Defence (DND) announced that the military had chosen the first transmit and receive sites in Ontario for the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) project. A-OTHR aims to significantly expand situational awareness of objects approaching and entering Canadian airspace from the North.
A-OTHR is expected to reach initial operational capability by the end of 2029, seven years after the modernization program began. It requires four sites to be fully operational: two transmit sites and two receive sites. The sites must be in southern Ontario to meet NORAD surveillance requirements.
DND has acquired 163 hectares of land in Thistle Trail, north of Bexley Township in the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, for a transmit site. A preliminary receive site also has been identified on 288 hectares of farmland in Clearview Township, Ontario. Acquiring these sites allows DND to set up the initial operational capability much sooner than the full capability. DND still is evaluating the remaining sites.
DND plans virtual and in-person information sessions and town hall meetings about the sites. The sessions will offer more information and allow the public to provide feedback and ask questions about the project.
Initial work is expected to begin at the Kawartha Lakes and Clearview Township sites in winter 2026. Before work commences, DND will conduct environmental and site studies.
In March 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada planned to partner with Australia to develop advanced A-OTHR technology. On July 18, Australia’s Department of Defence announced that the new technology partnership agreement had been signed. A-OTHR will conduct surveillance at far greater ranges than regular radar technology as it bounces radar beams off the ionosphere to see around the curvature of Earth. Carney also announced a greater, sustained and year-round Canadian Armed Forces presence in the Arctic at a cost of about $420 million.