Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
I am Lieutenant-General Blaise Frawley, Deputy Commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), headquartered in Colorado Springs.
As Deputy Commander of NORAD, my role is to support General Gregory Guillot, Commander of NORAD, in the execution of our binational command's missions, namely aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning.
Within aerospace warning and aerospace control, NORAD relies on space-based capabilities every day for providing threat warning and attack assessment, communication, navigation, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, weather tracking and much more. There is nothing we do as a joint binational partner command that is not enabled or enhanced by space power.
While NORAD is not responsible for space defence, General Guillot has expressed that awareness and protection of the space domain is absolutely critical. As modern threats continue to blur the lines between air and space, it is now more important than ever that Canada and the U.S. work collaboratively in both domains, such as we are doing with the Arctic over-the-horizon radar initiative, to defend North America and better integrate space-mindedness into our operational environment.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to address this committee, and I look forward to your questions.