North America vulnerable to Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons: NORAD commander
North America has few options to defend against Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons, which can manoeuvre while travelling more than five times the speed of sound. Potentially capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the U.S. is still trying to develop a similar arsenal.
“Hypersonic weapons are extremely difficult to detect and counter given these weapons’ speed, maneuverability, low flight paths, and unpredictable trajectories,” NORAD commander Gen. Glen VanHerck told CTVNews.ca. “Hypersonic weapons challenge NORAD’s ability to provide threat warning and attack assessments for Canada and the United States.”
Short for North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD was formed by the U.S. and Canada during the height of the Cold War to protect the continent from aerial attack. Now, more than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to renewed calls to upgrade and modernize the binational defence group so it can respond to new threats like hypersonic weapons.
- WATCH: Joy Malbon on efforts to save Lviv's treasures
- Latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war
- Aid groups at Polish border offer refugees food, comfort
“There is currently no policy directing NORAD to defend North America against hypersonic weapons,” VanHerck said in a written response to questions from CTV News.
The American Air Force general shared the same message with defence officials in Ottawa on Nov. 29, and with the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services on March 8.
“I cannot defend, nor am I tasked to defend, against a hypersonic glide vehicle attack,” his prepared statement for the committee read.
'WE CAN'T TRACK THEM AND WE CAN'T KILL THEM'
Russia and China have both developed hypersonic weapons, which can travel at speeds of Mach 5 and more. There are two types: hypersonic cruise missiles, which are powered by an air-breathing scramjet engine; and hypersonic glide vehicles, which reach orbit with a conventional booster before gliding towards a target.
While traditional intercontinental ballistic missiles follow relatively predicable up-and-down arcs, hypersonic weapons are maneuverable and can fly at altitudes where few military sensors are looking. They can conceivably be deployed from land, air and sea, and are capable of reaching North America from any direction, like the comparatively exposed south. While it is unclear if Russia and China already have nuclear-armed hypersonic weapons, such a development is seen as inevitable.
This U.S. government graphic shows how hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles differ from conventional ballistic missiles. (U.S. Government Accountability Office)This U.S. government graphic shows how hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles differ from conventional ballistic missiles. (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
“Most cruise missiles can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, so the expectation is that they can do both,” James Fergusson told CTVNews.ca.
Fergusson is the deputy director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba.
“We can’t see them really, we can’t track them and we can’t kill them,” the political science professor said from Winnipeg. “You have to deal with this problem. You can’t simply ignore it.”
'THE U.S. NEVER MADE IT A SUFFICIENT PRIORITY'
On its own admission, the U.S. is lagging behind. In Oct. 2021, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking military officer in the country, described a reported Chinese test as being “very close” to a “Sputnik moment,” referring to fears the U.S. had been technologically outpaced by the Soviet Union after the first artificial satellite was launched into earth orbit in 1957.
“The U.S. is working very hard to try and develop prototype systems that might be available in two- or three-years’ time,” Iain Boyd told CTVNews.ca.
Boyd is a professor of aerospace engineering and the director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
“By any measure, the U.S. is definitely behind in terms of having something now,” Boyd said. “The U.S. never made it a sufficient priority.”
Speaking to the Armed Services congressional committee last week, VanHerck said NORAD modernization needs to include space-based sensors capable of tracking hypersonic weapons and over-the-horizon radar, which can detect objects around the curvature of the earth. NORAD also needs to work with other military and civilian agencies to garner more data from existing sensors, and then apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed up information processing and subsequent threat responses, VanHerck said.
“The ability to detect a threat, whether from a cyber-actor or a cruise missile, is a prerequisite to defeating the threat,” VanHerck told CTVNews.ca. “To unlock the full value and potential of our intelligence and sensor networks, information must be integrated, appropriately classified, and rapidly shared to allow commands, agencies, allies, and partners to collaborate globally in real-time and across all domains.”
The U.S. reportedly estimates just the first constellation of 28 infrared sensor satellites for tracking hypersonic weapons will cost US$2.5 billion.
“These activities are pretty early on, they’re very, very expensive and they’ll take many years to implement,” Boyd said from Colorado.
'NO MONEY ALLOCATED'
In Canada, the federal Liberals have called upgrading NORAD a priority, and in April 2021 earmarked $163 million to that end. Joint statements on NORAD modernization have also been repeatedly released by both the U.S. and Canada. But during his trip to Ottawa in Nov. 2021, VanHerck told reporters he was still waiting for politicians to decide on how to update the North Warning System, a chain of 52 radar stations that stretches 4,800 km from Alaska to Labrador to act as “trip wire” for the continent’s northern approaches.
The North Warning System was built between 1986 and 1992 to detect conventional threats like bombers and missiles. The Department of National Defence calls it “Canada’s most significant contribution” to NORAD (which has a Canadian deputy commander) but admits “its radar capabilities are becoming increasingly challenged by modern weapons technology, including advanced cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons.” The North Warning System also does not give NORAD eyes on the northernmost reaches of the Arctic Archipelago.
“Budget 2021 included $163.4 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to support NORAD modernization,” a National Defence spokesperson told CTVNews.ca in an email. “This investment is to lay the groundwork for NORAD’s future—including through research and development of cutting-edge technologies that can help us detect and defend against threats to the continent.”
Fergusson from the University of Manitoba says that investment can’t come soon enough.
“The issue of NORAD modernization and North American defence modernization has been on the table for some time,” he said. “There’s really been no money allocated for modernization. The government says it’s coming. We wait and see.”
'AN EXPENSIVE WASTE OF MONEY'
Julian Spencer-Churchill is an associate professor of political science at Concordia University whose research focuses on security and strategic studies.
“It is normally populist politicians and defense ministries that push for this technology for votes and tactical benefits,” he told CTVNews.ca from Montreal. “They are an expensive waste of money, primarily designed to strike at U.S. warships and fixed facilities like airbases and ports.”
Still, Spencer-Churchill doesn’t dismiss Russia’s ability to launch a limited strike on North America using a hypersonic weapon.
“It’s the same with any weapon: if we act scared, they will leverage it against us,” he said. “I think they think we are susceptible to coercion, and it is not beyond impossible that they would not fire one at an oil facility in Edmonton to demonstrate their capability, especially if we simultaneously got actively involved in Ukraine and also publicly demonstrated our concern.”
The problem with hypersonics, Boyd adds, is once launched, there’s no way to know if they’re carrying a nuclear warhead.
“The unpredictability, I think, is where Russia is different from China for this specific thing,” he said. “Having these weapons doesn’t necessarily make Russia and China stronger, it actually just makes the whole situation a little bit more unstable.”
Even if the U.S. doesn’t have hypersonic weapons, Spencer-Churchill believes its massive nuclear arsenal remains a robust deterrent to a larger war with Russia.
“None of the systems that the hypersonic missile can target are those that would reduce America’s ability to respond,” he said. “In the real world, if they use it to nuke Edmonton, in 45 minutes we will automatically nuke St. Petersburg the old-fashioned way… Russia knows this.”
With files from The Canadian Press and the Associated Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
U.S. Capitol riot: More people turn up with evidence against Donald Trump
More witnesses are coming forward with new details on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot following former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's devastating testimony last week against former U.S. President Donald Trump, says a member of a U.S. House committee investigating the insurrection.

'He was a hero': Family says Ottawa man killed in fatal collision sacrificed himself
The family of an Ottawa man killed in a Canada Day crash in the west end says Tom Bergeron died exactly as he lived: selflessly thinking of others before himself.
Dog left with lost baggage at Toronto Pearson Airport for about 21 hours
A Toronto woman says a dog she rescued from the Dominican Republic has been traumatized after being left in a corner of Toronto Pearson International Airport with baggage for about 21 hours.
Chinese-Canadian tycoon due to stand trial in China, embassy says
Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, who went missing in Hong Kong five years ago, was due to go on trial in China on Monday, the Canadian embassy in Beijing said.
'Hell on earth': Ukrainian soldiers describe life on eastern front
Torched forests and cities burned to the ground. Colleagues with severed limbs. Bombardments so relentless the only option is to lie in a trench, wait and pray. Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, where Russia is waging a fierce offensive, describe life during what has turned into a gruelling war of attrition as apocalyptic.
Video shows police in Ohio kill Black man in hail of gunfire
A Black man was unarmed when Akron police chased him on foot and killed him in a hail of gunfire, but officers believed he had shot at them earlier from a vehicle and feared he was preparing to fire again, authorities said Sunday at a news conference.
N.S. woman calls for private fireworks regulation after her dog dies 'scared and alone'
Canada Day weekend fireworks have sparked more calls to either regulate or ban backyard fireworks displays in Nova Scotia.
Shooting at Williams Lake, B.C. stampede injures 2, forces evacuation
Two people are injured and a third is in custody after what RCMP describe as a 'public shooting' at a rodeo in B.C. Sunday.
Dutch farmers block entrances to supermarket warehouses
Dutch farmers angry at government plans to slash emissions used tractors and trucks Monday to block roads and supermarket distribution centers, sparking fears of store food shortages in the latest actions through a summer of discontent in the country's lucrative agricultural sector.
W5 HIGHLIGHTS
Families falsely accused of child abuse call for mandatory medical second opinions
Families across the country tell W5 they were falsely accused of child abuse after bringing their sick or injured child to the hospital. Some parents are calling for mandatory medical second opinions when it comes to cases flagged in hospitals.

Lisa Raitt shares the pain behind her husband's devastating diagnosis
Former Deputy Leader of the Conservatives Lisa Raitt shares the pain behind her husband's devastating diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's and the story of their enduring love, in a candid and revealing interview with CTV W5.

W5 INVESTIGATES | Viral Facebook post sparks criminal investigation into pediatric dentist
W5 investigates disturbing allegations against a pediatric dentist in Nova Scotia whose treatment of children over five decades is now an alleged crime.

Did politics muzzle a doctor who spoke out about the Ontario government's COVID-19 response?
CTV W5's latest investigation: For a year, Dr. Brooks Fallis ran the Critical Care unit at a Brampton Hospital. He openly criticized Premier Ford’s COVID-19 response and was warned by his bosses there could be consequences.
Exclusive: Doctors tell W5 why they spoke out during the pandemic
For the past two years, a number of doctors across Canada have advocated for their patients and questioned the role of politics in the handling of COVID-19. To explore the issues, W5 convened a group of seven physicians from across the country.
W5 Investigates | Canadian doctors decide whether Indigenous women are fit to be mothers
W5 investigates Canadian doctors performing the irreversible procedure of forced sterilizations on Indigenous women.
Prescription drug side-effects: How they're vastly under-reported and one man's tragic, cautionary tale
An Ontario man shares his horrifying story of murder as W5 investigates the widespread under-reporting of serious side-effects from prescription drugs.
A rare look at Canada's growing demand for medical assistance in dying
CTV W5 investigates the growing demand for medically-assisted death, and reveals stories of those determined to die with dignity.