Stantec wins contract for Canada’s Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar project

Stantec, an Edmonton-headquartered engineering consultancy, has won a contract to provide engineering and design services for Canada’s Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) project.

Defence Construction Canada picked Stantec and its consortium partners to deliver the long-range, early-warning radar system covering the country’s northern regions. Stantec will provide multidisciplinary project management and design services, while Aecon and Pomerleau will provide construction services as a joint venture.

Stantec’s scope includes project management, civil engineering, environmental services, architecture, buildings engineering, power engineering, geotechnical engineering, and landscape architecture.

The A-OTHR system is part of a federal investment to modernize North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) infrastructure – a Cold War-era network of sensors, command centers, and operational units built to detect aerospace and maritime threats.

With resurgent Arctic-region threats from Russia and China, the program will create a long-range surveillance radar network to monitor Arctic routes to major North American cities – renewing Canada’s North Warning System (NWS).

The NWS is a joint US-Canadian early-warning radar system established in 1988 for the atmospheric air defence of North America.

“We are honoured to help advance NORAD’s modernization, drawing on our deep experience in delivering resilient, climate‑ready solutions across Canada,” said Gord Johnston, president and chief executive officer of Stantec.

A-OTHR’s validation phase will begin in Q1 2026, followed by a design development phase and then construction.

Stantec has 34,000 employees across 450+ offices globally delivering services in engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting.