North American Defence

To protect against direct Soviet air attacks, the

United States reached an agreement to build
three lines of radar stations across Canada
between 1950-1957

The Pinetree Line, Mid-Canada Line, and Distant
Early Warning Line (DEW Line) were designed to
give the USA time to launch a counterattack if
Soviet long-range bombers were attacking over
the North Pole
North American Defence (cont.)
North American Defence (cont.)
These radar stations were manned by American
military personnel on Canadian soil
Many Canadians feared this also compromised
Canadas autonomy, but most accepted this as the
price of better security against a Soviet attack
North American Defence (cont.)
The development of
intercontinental
ballistic missiles
(ICBMs) meant
nuclear missiles
launched from the
USSR could reach
North American cities
within 30 minutes

North American Defence (cont.)
In 1957, NORAD was
created to counter
possible Soviet attacks
on North America
It included joint fighter
forces, missile bases and
radar stations all
controlled by a central
command station built
in Cheyenne Mountain,
Colorado

Civil Defence
Canadians prepared
for nuclear war by:
Building bomb
shelters
Teaching students
to duck and cover
Formulating the
TOCSIN B
evacuation plan
Building the
Diefenbunker
Civil Defence (cont.)
In reality, the best deterrent against a nuclear
attack was the threat of all-out nuclear war

Mutually Assured Destruction
Both the USSR and
the United States would
come to follow a policy
of Mutually Assured
Destruction (MAD),
where the threat of
nuclear war assured
that neither side would
fire the first shot

Avro Arrow
Avro Arrow (CF-105), was
an advanced, supersonic,
twin-engined, all-weather
interceptor jet aircraft
developed by Canadian
A.V. Roe in 1949

The Avro Arrow was
designed to counter the threat of Soviet bombers
over the demanding Canadian North
Avro Arrow (cont.)
In October 1958, the new
Conservative government
attempted to sell the aircraft
to the USA, just when the
Americans were promoting
BOMARC MISSILES and
when the USSRs launch of
an ICBM was raising
doubts about the priority of
the Soviet bomber threat
Avro Arrow (cont.)
The attempts to sell the Avro Arrow failed, and the
project was controversially cancelled in 1959