The Coming Defense Boom

Australia recently agreed to sell Canada an over-the-horizon radar system, Australia’s largest export of its kind worth 2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.7 billion). It’s the first time Canberra has sold this technology overseas. Tellingly, the deal is more than simply a sale of equipment; it’s a strategic partnership tied to Arctic surveillance, early-warning capability and deeper Australia-Canada defense industrial cooperation. The agreement suggests Australia is emerging as an exporter of high-end defense technology and that Canada is diversifying its security partnerships, investing in sovereign early-warning capability rather than relying only on current North American defense architecture.

More broadly, the agreement reflects a transformation underway in the global defense industry…