Canada, US begin joint week-long Arctic Air Defence drills

The North American Aerospace Defence Command- NORAD announced on March 20, 2021, that the air forces of the United States and Canada have started a week-long Arctic Exercise, Amalgam Dart.

In a tweet, NORAD informed that members of the 148 Fighter Wing, Minnesota national Guard are on their way to the Amalgam Dart. The arctic exercise started on March 20 and will go on until March 26, 2021.

#AirPower on the move! Members of the @148FW, Minnesota National Guard, are officially on their way to #AmalgamDart. The #NORAD arctic air defense exercise starts today and goes until March 26th. #WeHaveTheWatch pic.twitter.com/W4QbIOV61D

— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) March 20, 2021

The tweet further mentioned that the support teams arrived at Thule Air Base and were ready to kickstart Amalgam Dart.

🇺🇲🇨🇦Support teams have arrived at Thule Air Base, Greenland, ready to kick off #AmalgamDart. During the exercise, we will enhance our readiness and demonstrate our capability to defend our northern approaches. With our #friendspartnersallies, #WeHavetheWatch pic.twitter.com/SiTBxnELB6

— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) March 18, 2021

During the exercise, the countries will enhance their readiness and will demonstrate their capabilities of defending their northern approaches.

In February 2020, both Canada and the US had planned of modernizing the network of defence satellites and radar in the Arctic.

Michael Dawson, who also served as the Canadian Political Advisor to the NORAD Command in Colorado from the year 2010 to 2014 informed that the North American Aerospace Defence Command system had become outdated as in comparison new Chinese and Russian missiles are capable of traveling at more than 5 times the speed of the sound.