Canada looking to help develop sensors for 'Golden Dome' missile defence, U.S. general tells conference

Murray Brewster · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Canada's information successful U.S. President Donald Trump's planned "Golden Dome" missile-defence strategy for North America is constricted to probe involving the detection of incoming threats, the U.S. commandant for NORAD told a defence league connected Wednesday.

Gen. Greg Guillot told the yearly Conference of Defence Associations Institute yearly forum successful Ottawa that helium and his unit are excited astir the proposal, which broadly falls wrong existing plans to modernize continental defence.

Last period during a sojourn to Washington, Defence Minister Bill Blair acknowledged that Canada was funny successful participating successful the plan, saying safeguarding the skies "makes sense."

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an enforcement bid astatine the extremity of January mandating the instauration of an "Iron Dome for America," which would beryllium a "next-generation rocket defence shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, precocious cruise missiles and different next-generation aerial attacks."

The Pentagon this week re-christened the "Iron Dome" connection arsenic the "Golden Dome" and a notation was made successful Trump's Tuesday associated code to Congress.

During caller grounds earlier a committee of the U.S. Senate, an American lawmaker indicated he'd received affirmative signals astir Canada's participation, which successful this state is politically important due to the fact that of the decades-long moratorium connected engagement successful Washington's anti-ballistic rocket program.

Precisely however progressive Canada mightiness beryllium has ne'er been explained.

There is an effort underway to modernize NORAD, the decades-old binational aerospace defence pact. Both the United States and Canada mean to instal modern over-the-horizon radar stations, seabed-based sensors to observe ballistic missile-carrying submarines successful the Arctic and motorboat a caller bid of satellites to adjacent down astatine imaginable threats.

"I'll archer you that Canada is precise progressive with america successful talking chiefly astir the sensor domain consciousness dome that needs to provender the remainder of the Golden Dome," Guillot said.

The rocket defence strategy would person respective components, starting with sensors to observe incoming threats and a assortment of interceptors to sound down either the cruise oregon ballistic missiles.

Guillot said NORAD has enactment its proposals to the Pentagon. Those plans volition yet beryllium scrutinized by the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament.

There was nary notation — successful either Guillot's speech, nor the question-and-answer league with retired Canadian wide Tom Lawson — to the governmental hostility implicit Trump's threats to annex Canada done economical force.

Blair, who spoke astatine the league earlier Guillot, was asked to quadrate however the authorities proposes to go much profoundly progressive with U.S. defence plans astatine clip erstwhile the nation's sovereignty was nether threat.

"I quadrate due to the fact that it's successful our nationalist involvement to support our country," Blair said. "And we person a responsibility, archetypal of all, to support Canada, but we besides person a work to our continental neighbours successful the United States to marque definite that we are prepared to bash our part."

He said the Americans are talking astir a important caller concern and Canada has a relation to play successful that, certainly in domain consciousness passim the full Arctic.

"That is our sovereign territory," helium said, adding that Canada has to cognize what's going connected successful the region, whether it's successful the air, nether the oversea oregon connected land.