Canada's New Prime Minister Announces Australian Radar Purchase While Visiting Edge of Arctic Circle

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney planned to announce Tuesday a multibillion dollar radar purchase from Australia and an expansion of military operations in the Arctic while visiting Canada's far north in an effort to assert sovereignty over the increasingly contested region.

The prime minister's office said that the Canadian $6 billion ($4.2 billion) “Over-the-Horizon Radar” system will provide early warning radar coverage from the Canada-United States border into the Arctic.

Carney planned to make the announcement at a military base in the capital of the Inuit-governed territory of Nunavut. It was his last stop after visiting Paris and London for meetings with leaders there.

The Australian radar system will consist of a series of pillars almost a mile (1.6 kilometers) in length. Officials said that the system would have a smaller footprint than what the similar American system would take up.

Senior Canadian government officials, who briefed reporters on Carney's plane before the announcement, said that the purchase has been well received by top military officials in the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the joint U.S.-Canadian military command that overseas threats over the two countries.

But the officials said they couldn't say how the Australian purchase would be received politically by Washington. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Canada’s top military commander also planned to announce that the government will spend Canadian $420 million ($294 million) to expand Canada’s Arctic operations and training exercises and deploy more personnel.

The prime minister is in Iqaluit, which is by far the largest municipality in Nunavut, a vast territory straddling the Arctic Circle. Nunavut is roughly the size of the U.S. states of Alaska and California combined, with a mostly Inuit population of about 40,000.

The prime minister’s flight path took him over Greenland. U.S. President Donald Trump’s interest in Greenland, northeast of Nunavut, comes as part of an aggressively “America First” foreign policy platform that has included threats to take control of the Panama Canal and suggestions that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Trump has threatened economic coercion to make Canada the 51st state. His constant talk of annexation has infuriated Canadians and turned around the political fortunes of the governing Liberal party, which was headed for a historic defeat but now has a chance of winning a fourth term. Carney is expected to call a general election by the end of the week.

For much of the year, the weather in Iqaluit can be severe. In February 2010, Iqaluit hosted a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations. Several of the dignitaries, including Carney when he was head of Canada’s central bank, went dogsledding in subfreezing temperatures.

It is a distinctive destination — home to about 7,500 people but not a single traffic light — with no road or rail links to the outside world.

Increasing international tensions, global warming and the changing world economy have put the Arctic at the heart of the debate over global trade and security.