Military could begin Arctic sensor installations next summer

OTTAWA – National Defence plans to install 47 sensor stations across the North starting as early as next summer to bolster Norad’s surveillance and early warning abilities, according to recently published regulatory filings.

The planned installations would start in Yukon near the Alaskan border and follow along the Arctic coast across the Northwest Territories, reaching as far out as Alert, Nunavut, the most northern inhabited point in the world.

Called Project Crossbow, the plan involves using Hercules aircraft and Chinook helicopters to airlift passive sensor installations, which resemble large shipping containers that stand on metal legs.

The initial deployments could begin as soon as next summer with initial operating capability coming online in 2029, said Royal Canadian Air Force spokesperson Lt.-Cmdr. Melanie Aqiqi.

She said in an emailed statement that Crossbow is “part of a broader network of capabilities supporting northern air domain awareness.”

The container stations will run on solar and wind power, according to a series of National Defence documents filed with a Nunavut regulatory board.

Aside from some temporary deployments required to set them up and an annual maintenance cycle, the installations will remain unstaffed throughout the year.

“This defence capability (surveillance sensors) will operate within self-powered, autonomous, ruggedized power-generating container systems designed for continuous operations in austere environments and extreme Arctic conditions,” one of the documents said.

The federal government is investing billions of dollars in a broader effort to modernize Norad’s equipment.

The project was announced in 2022 by then-defence minister Anita Anand under the Northern Approaches Surveillance system, which includes the over-the-horizon radar project.

Anand said at the time the capabilities of the joint Canada-U.S. project are classified but the new network would add “another layer of detection” to Norad.

An information package submitted to the Nunavut Planning Commission said the project is of “national significance” and the “proposed sites are required for overall system network operation.”

The sites mapped out in some of the filed plans include two in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island and four within a migratory bird sanctuary on Banks Island. The documents state the project is expected to have little to no impact on wildlife.

Two sensor systems are already stationed in Alert, Nunavut and Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, one of the documents said.

The sites were chosen so that National Defence can easily airlift the containers in just a few days — although the exact rationale for site selection remains classified.

The sensor project is expected to be complete by 2032. Once fully deployed, the project is expected to run another 20 years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.

— With files from Nick Murray