Australia announced on Monday that it has signed its biggest-ever defence export deal, with Canada to purchase surveillance radar technology in a A$2.5 billion ($1.75 billion) agreement, an official statement said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the agreement along with Canadian Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr.
It marks Australia's first overseas sale of the over-the-horizon radar technology and will support Canada's surveillance of the Arctic region, said a statement from the office of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Over-the-horizon radar technology refracts high-frequency electromagnetic waves off the ionosphere to detect far-off objects that would otherwise be invisible because of the curvature of the Earth.
"Today’s agreement marks a significant milestone in Australian defence trade and lays the foundation for deeper and mutually beneficial defence industry collaboration with Canada," Albanese said in a statement.
Australia's Jindalee Operational Radar Network can detect and track aircraft, ships and missiles up to 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) away.
Fuhr said the technology will allow Canada to further enhance its "Arctic domain awareness."
This capability will detect and track air and maritime threats with much greater range and strength by providing earlier warning and improving continental defence and reinforcing Canada's Arctic sovereignty, Fuhr added.
Asked if the reason Canada is purchasing the technology is that the US has asked it to do more, he said his country has just announced the purchase of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from Washington.
"The relationship (with the US) is different, and we have great partners in other places in the world, this being a very good example of it with this radar," Fuhr added
"It is far and away the largest defence export that we have ever done," Marles told a news conference.
"Australia and Canada have always been the very best of friends, but really, with what we have signed today, there is now a very significant strategic dimension to the relationship."
Australia's radar system is the "backbone" of its long-range northern surveillance, and the most advanced in the world, Marles said.
"Just like Australia, Canada has large areas to surveil, and so Canada will use this to engage in surveillance over the Arctic."
The agreement would support about 300 technical jobs in Australia, the government said.
BAE Systems Australia is set to commence delivery of the system on July 1 this year.
