Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday introduced that he’ll journey to Colorado Springs to visit the North American Aerospace Defense Command headquarters.
Trudeau’s workplace introduced that he’ll visit NORAD at Peterson Space Force Base on Tuesday earlier than touring to Los Angeles to take part within the ninth Summit of the Americas, hosted by President Joe Biden. The summit is scheduled Monday by way of Friday, June 10.
Trudeau might be joined in Colorado Springs by Anita Anand, Canada’s protection minister.
The U.S. Department of Defense additionally introduced on Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with senior leaders and troops at NORAD and Northern Command at Peterson on Tuesday.
Austin will then journey to Singapore to take part within the International Institute for Strategic Studies nineteenth Shangri-La Dialogue with Indo-Pacific leaders.
Austin was just lately in Colorado Springs, giving the keynote deal with on the Air Force Academy commencement at Falcon Stadium.
Canada’s Anand mentioned in April that she was shut to providing a “robust” plan to modernize continental defenses by way of NORAD, in accordance to a Defense News story. The modernized defenses are needed by the U.S. in response to potential advanced hypersonic missile threats by China, Russia and different international locations.
Anand met with Austin on the Pentagon in late April.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on the U.S. Air Force Academy commencement on May 25 and can make a cease on Tuesday at Peterson Space Force Base.
The Ottawa Citizen reported that Canada plans to spend $1 billion (U.S. $780 million) for a brand new northward-facing, over-the-horizon radar system within the Arctic. The radar system would supply long-range surveillance to detect threats in opposition to U.S. or Canadian cities and would start operation in 2028.
This spring, U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of NORAD and Northern Command, mentioned the binational command faces rising threats from Russia and China, in accordance to Defense News. The threats embody hypersonic missiles which can be troublesome to detect and observe.
“It’s the maneuverability and the challenges they present by coming in at different attack vectors, or different angles, which allows us to not see them, candidly. So what I’m most worried about, in my NORAD hat, is providing threat warning,” he mentioned.
NORAD is operated collectively by the U.S. and Canada, charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace management and maritime warning for North America. It works with mutual assist preparations with different instructions.
On May 12, 1958, the settlement between the Canadian and U.S. governments that established NORAD was formalized. The renewal of the NORAD settlement in May 2006 added a maritime warning mission.
The Summit of the Americas brings collectively leaders from North America, Central America and South America and the Caribbean to talk about shared priorities, which this yr will embody advancing motion on local weather change, gender equality and Indigenous rights, in accordance to a information launch from Trudeau’s workplace. Leaders additionally will talk about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This yr’s summit is barely the second time the U.S. has hosted since 1994, when the primary summit was held in Miami.