ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to provide an account of the steps that led up to conclusion of that agreement and, more particularly, of the part played by Canada in bringing it about. The planning concept for air defense system modernization, at least as presented to Canadian audiences, did not include any specific measures to replace or to update the components of the existing continental air defense system most directly involving Canada. In addition, the planning concept itself provided a basis, and its presentation to Canadian authorities a starting point, for bilateral consultations on future needs within the framework of the North American Air Defense agreement. The analytical challenge was clearly one that the Canadian Forces, with much of their major equipment at or reaching the later stages of obsolescence, and the Department of National Defence, had to meet. Detection and interception of a foreign intruder approaching Winnipeg would not have been a very convincing demonstration of Canadian sovereignty.
