Operating as Nasittuq, ATCO Structures & Logistics and Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics (PAIL) have a contract to operate and maintain 47 North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) radar sites located across the Canadian Arctic from Labrador to the Alaska border known as the North Warning System (NWS).

Nasittuq also provides support to five strategically located logistics support sites at Goose Bay, Labrador, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Hall Beach, Nunavut, Inuvik, Northwest Territories, and Iqaluit, Nunavut as well as to the North Warning System Support Centre and the Region Operations Control Centre (ROCC).

The NWS mission is to provide the appropriate authorities with the necessary warning and assessment of airborne threats to North America along with enhancing the sovereignty of Canada and the United States.

NORAD uses a network of ground-based radars, sensors and fighter jets to detect, intercept and, if necessary, engage any threats to the continent. Canada's participation in NORAD is strategically controlled at the ROCC. The Centre, which operates 24 x 7, provides surveillance, identification, control, and warning for the air defence of Canada and North America. The Centre collects radar information received via satellite from the radar sites and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft that augment the perimeter radar system in times of alert.

The North Warning System radar chain consists of 10 long-range radars (AN/FPS-117), 36 short-range radars (AN/FPS-124), and a development radar site that is located near North Bay, Ontario. These state-of-the-art microwave radars form a "trip-wire" across the northern perimeter of North America detecting all aircraft approaching the continent.

Since obtaining this contract, Nasittuq also designed and implemented a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system at each site, simplifying the site operations and reducing costs.

Visit www.nasittuq.com* for more details about this project.

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