Canada’s new prime minister announces Australian radar purchase while visiting edge of Arctic Circle WSOC TV [Video]

IQALUIT, Nunavut — (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday announced 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 made 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.

“Arctic sovereignty is a strategic priority of our government,” Carney said. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation.”

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 …