An artist’s impression of the Bagotville NORAD QRA site. Credit: Canadian Ministry of National Defence.

Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, located in Quebec province, will house a new Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) facility for operations conducted under the auspices of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) – a bi-national organisation between Canada and the US.

Marie-France Lalonde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, Bill Blair, announced the site’s construction on 12 August 2024.

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Construction is valued at approximately C$120m ($87.3m), and work is due to reach completion by 2027.

This facility will enable Canadian personnel to posture and deploy the Air Force’s forthcoming fleet of 88 CF-35A fighter jets – due to be delivered throughout 2026-7 –  in a flight-ready state in support of NORAD operations.

However, at the moment, Bagotville is home to 3 Wing, a unit that operates CF-188 Hornet aircraft. Currently, L3Harris is undertaking an extension programme for the aircraft, having delivered six upgraded units in July 2023, bringing the Royal Canadian Air Force to initial operating capability.

Canada’s Ministry of National Defense states that the extension is intended to ensure that the Air Force’s Hornet fighter fleet is able to meet operational requirements, including integration into NORAD and Nato until 2032, when the permanent fleet of F-35As is expected to be fully operational.

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The new QRA site, spanning 7,400 square metres (m²), will include aircraft hangar bays, office space and sleeping quarters for personnel, and a 17,000m² secure fenced compound surrounding the facility. 

Once completed, it will help Canadian personnel support Canada and the NORAD mission and quickly respond to any threats in North American airspace. 

This investment is part of Canada’s C$38.6bn NORAD Modernisation Plan, announced by the Government of Canada in June 2022. It represents the most significant upgrade to Canada’s NORAD capabilities in almost four decades.

In particular, the QRA facility is part of the NORAD Modernisation Plan’s Defence of Canada Infrastructure Project (DCFI), which commits funding to upgrade fighter infrastructure and NORAD QRA capabilities at bases across Canada to operationalise and employ the CF-35A for continental defence.

Most recently, NORAD fighter aircraft detected, tracked and intercepted two bomber aircraft – one Russian TU-95 and a Chinese H-6M – that entered NORAD’s Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, but not US sovereign airspace, at the end of July 2024.

Additional reporting from Richard Thomas.