Australia Signs Largest Defense Export Deal in History to Sell JORN Over-the-Horizon Radar to Canada

The governments of Australia and Canada have signed an agreement under which Ottawa will purchase the JORN OTHR radar system for $1.75 billion — the largest defense export deal in Canberra’s history.

This was reported by the Australian government.

In light of Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and Greenland, Ottawa is developing a new Arctic over-the-horizon radar (A-OTHR) system based on Australian technology.

BAE Systems Australia stated that it “will support both governments as an industrial partner for the A-OTHR program” and, according to the company’s press release regarding the Canadian contract, will provide full support throughout the entire life cycle of the Australian JORN system. In addition, since being selected to participate in the program in 2018, the company has been modernizing Australia’s network of radar stations.

“As close friends and valued partners, Australia and Canada build their relationship on many years of operational cooperation, shared strategic interests, and close collaboration within the Five Eyes partnership,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on June 22.

The project will create approximately 300 technical jobs in Australia, and the industry partner, BAE Systems Australia, is scheduled to begin delivering the Canadian A-OTHR system on July 1, 2026.

Canada allocated a total of $6.5 billion to this project as early as 2025 and will consider expanding the network in the coming years.

“Canada’s acquisition of Australia’s state-of-the-art OTHR system advances the strategic interests of both countries by improving the detection and tracking of threats to North America, thereby enhancing the situational awareness of the Five Eyes alliance,” said Craig Lockhart, CEO of BAE Systems Australia, referring to the intelligence-sharing alliance between the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

JORN Over-the-Horizon Radar

Developed in the 1980s, this over-the-horizon radar system is considered the most advanced in the world and provides surveillance of ships and aircraft at distances of up to 3,000 km.

Unlike traditional radars, which are limited by line of sight, the high-frequency JORN was developed and designed by Australian scientists and utilizes the ionosphere above the Earth’s surface.

A high-frequency radio signal is transmitted into the sky by a transmitter and reflected downward by the ionosphere, detecting a target. The echo travels back along the same path to a separate receiving station. The data received is processed into real-time tracking information.

It is managed and operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from the Battle Space Surveillance Center, located at Edinburgh Air Base in South Australia.