Nuclear War Targets in Canada
Updated: 4 days ago

MAP LEGEND
RED Letters and dashed line = Primary Targets
ORANGE letters = Secondary Targets
***See bottom of legend for accompanying video with in-depth explanation***
RED DASHED LINE = North Warning System - ( SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR LIST OF COORDINATES AND MAP)
Formerly the DEW line (Distant Early Warning Line) consists of short and long range radars 11 long range, 36 short range. These are sensors that can detect incoming bomber aircraft or missiles from the Arctic, they are used by Canadian NORAD in CFB North Bay. Each one would need to be neutralized by Russia to eliminate NORAD’s capability of detecting missiles and aircraft. These sites are small so a smaller yield warhead would be enough, or they could opt for using cruise missiles to take them out before their first strike. If nuclear warheads are used rather than cruise missiles, the fallout radiation should be fairly localized however because there are so many of these sites there would be a decent amount of fallout over Canada’s far Northern frontier.
A) CFB North Bay - North Bay, Ontario
46.357846°N 79.416477°W
MAJOR TARGET - Home of Canadian NORAD, all air and missile defense sensors feed into North Bay which acts as a first alert to any attack on the U.S. coming from the Arctic/Northern direction. North Bay would be the first to detect anything and then transmit information to the U.S. NORAD in Colorado Springs. If Russia takes out this base then Canada and the U.S. would be somewhat blind to any missiles or nuclear bombers coming from the Arctic direction. There is also a MASSIVE UNDERGROUND BUNKER COMPLEX at North Bay comparable to Cheyenne Mountain that is currently kept on "warm" status, but not activiely used it is one of the largest bunkers in North America built 60 stories underground.
B) CFB Cold Lake - Cold Lake, Alberta
54°24′18″N 110°16′46″W
MAJOR TARGET - Home of one of Canada’s F-18 Wings, the 4th wing. They have a lot of F-18’s here that are used to patrol Canada’s Western Air Defense Sector. These F-18’s would be scrambled in the event of any Russian bombers coming over the Arctic or from the Pacific. In the case of an intrusion into Canadian Airspace from the Northern Direction they would rendezvous with F-18’s scrambled from Bagotville.
C) CFB Bagotville - Saguenay, Quebec
48°19′50″N 070°59′47″W
MAJOR TARGET - The eastern counterpart of Cold Lake, home of Canada’s other F-18 wing responsible for intercepting intrusions into Canadian airspace coming from the Eastern or Northern Direction.
D) CFB Greenwood - Greenwood, Nova Scotia
44°59′04″N 064°55′01″W
MAJOR TARGET - One of two bases in the country using the CP-140 Aurora and CP-140A Arcturus anti-submarine/maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft. They patrol the East coast of Canada with these planes to detect any Russian nuclear missile subs.
E) CFB Comox - Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
49°42′39″N 124°53′12″W
MAJOR TARGET - West Coast counterpart to CFB Greenwood
FORWARD OPERATING LOCATIONS -
These are small bases in Canada’s Northern frontier that can be used by Canadian fighter pilots flying F-18’s patrolling the Northern reaches of Canada and the Arctic. These FOL’s are critical for Canadian fighter jets patrolling the Northern frontier because of vast distances involved in dispatching F-18’s from Bagotville or Cold Lake to the far Northern reaches of Canada and into the Arctic they would run out of fuel before making it back to their home bases, so they need a place to land. These FOL’s can be used for multiple other purposes as well and so they are a target.
Created under the North American Air Defense Modernization (NAADM) program authorized at the Shamrock Summit held in Quebec City on March 18, 1985. The locations are maintained by the Canadian Department of National Defense. The NAADM program was authorized by the Canada-United States Memorandum of Understanding signed by Prime Minister Mulroney and Ronald Reagan at the summit.
F) FOL Yellowknife
62.45131°N 114.4501°W
G) FOL Rankin Inlet
62.80563°N 92.1098°W
H) FOL Iqaluit
63.75107°N 68.5534°W
I) FOL Inuvik
68.30740°N 133.47022°W
J) FOL Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo) - Kuujjuaq, Quebec
58°06′N 68°24′W
K) CFB Goose Bay - Goose Bay, Labrador
53°19′09″N 060°25′33″W
Goose Bay is also considered an FOL that can be used by Canadian F-18’s, but also hosts a radar system pointed eastward. Also hosts multi-national squadrons from UK, France, Germany, Netherlands.
L) CFB Winnipeg - Winnipeg, Manitoba
49°54′36″N 097°14′24″W
Canadian NORAD HQ and flight training schools. This is the administrative HQ of Canadian NORAD and functions as an administrative base for the Canadian Air Force. CFB North Bay is the operations HQ of Canadian NORAD where actual data is analyzed and communicated to the U.S. from sensors.
M) CFB Trenton - Quinte West, Ontario
44°07′08″N 077°31′41″W
Heavy Airlift squadrons - C-17’s and C-130’s, and C-150’s
Accompanying video below for an explanation:
North Warning System Locations

COORDINATES AND INFO ABOUT EACH NORTH WARNING SYSTEM SITE
LIZ-2 (deactivated supposedly)
Point Lay, AK
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°01′27″N 163°51′26″W
Years in service: 1955-1994
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1955. Also was part of Alaska Radar System, site A-15. DEW operations ended 1989; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed 1990 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps; Site deactivated 1994 and remediation work was completed by 2005. Gravel runway and building pads remain. See also: Point Lay LRRS Airport (ICAO: PPIZ)
LIZ-3 (deactivated supposedly)
Wainwright, AK
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 70°36′37″N 159°52′12″W
Years in service: 1955-2007
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1955. Also was part of Alaska Radar System, site A-16. DEW operations ended 1995; minimally-attended NWS Short Range Radar installed 1994; Former DEW station remediation work was completed by 2005. Site deactivated 2007 due to soil erosion & budget concerns. See also: Wainwright Airport (ICAO: PAWI)
POW-M
Point Barrow, AK
Radar type: FPS-117
Coordinates: 71°19′38″N 156°38′10″W
Years in service: 1957- Present
Established as DEW Line Main site, 1957. Also is part of Alaska Radar System, site A-17, Maintained by USAF 611th Air Support Group. DEW operations ended 1998; minimally-attended NWS Long Range Radar installed 1999 Station buildings remain in use and in good repair.
POW-1 (deactivated supposedly)
Point Lonely, AK
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 70°54′37″N 153°14′23″W
Years in service: 1957-2007
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957. Also was part of Alaska Radar System, site A-18. DEW operations ended 1990; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed 1994 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Site deactivated 2007 due to soil erosion & budget concerns. Station buildings remain in good repair.
POW-2
Oliktok, AK
Radar types: FPS-117
Coordinates: 70°29′54″N 149°53′22″W
Years in service - 1957 - present
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957. Also is part of Alaska Radar System, site A-19, Maintained by USAF 611th Air Support Group. DEW operations ended 1989; minimally-attended NWS Long Range Radar installed 1990. Station buildings remain in use and in good repair.
POW-3 (deactivated supposedly)
Flaxman Island, AK
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 70°10′34″N 146°51′19″W
Years in service: 1957-2007
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957. Also was part of Alaska Radar System as Bullen Point Short Range Radar Site site A-20. DEW operations ended 1995; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed 1994 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Site deactivated 2007 due to soil erosion & budget concerns. Station buildings remain in good repair.
BAR-M
Barter Island, AK
Radar type: FPS-117
Coordinates: 70°07′49″N 143°38′21″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Line Main site, 1957. Also is part of Alaska Radar System, site A-21, Maintained by USAF 611th Air Support Group. DEW operations ended 1989; minimally-attended NWS Long Range Radar installed 1990. Station buildings remain in use and in good repair. See also: Barter Island LRRS Airport (ICAO: PABA)
BAR-1
Komakuk Beach, YT
Radar types: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°35′41″N 140°10′41″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957, operations ended 1989; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed 1990 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Now located in Yukon's Ivvavik National Park, station site remediation work was completed by 2005. Komakuk Beach SRRS Airport (ICAO: CYAJ) is listed in the Canada Flight Supplement as abandoned.
BAR-B
Stokes Point, YT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°19′49″N 138°44′13″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Intermediate site, closed and site abandoned in 1963. Reopened as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site in 1991 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Now located in Yukon's Ivvavik National Park, no station site remediation is planned. Stokes Point SRRS Airport is listed in the Canada Flight Supplement as abandoned.
BAR-2
Shingle Point, YT
Radar type: FPS-117
Coordinates: 68°55′22″N 137°15′38″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957, operations ended 1989; minimally-attended NWS Long Range Radar installed 1989. Now located in Yukon's Ivvavik National Park; station site remediation status is undetermined. Shingle Point LRRS Airport (ICAO: CYUA) is listed in the Canada Flight Supplement as abandoned.[3]
BAR-BA3
Storm Hills, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 68°53′39″N 133°56′31″W
Years in service: 1990 - present
Established in November 1990 as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. The site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building. Helicopter pad used for access to site.
BAR-3
Tuktoyaktuk, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°26′35″N 132°59′55″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957, operations ended 13 September 1993; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed in September 1990 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Station site remediation work was completed by 2005. The site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building, along with gravel remains of previous DEW site roads and building footings. Tuktoyaktuk/James Gruben Airport (ICAO: CYUB) is used for access to site.
BAR-DA1
Liverpool Bay, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coodinates: 69°36′15″N 130°53′37″W
Years in service: 1990-present
Established in November 1990 as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. The site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building. Helicopter pad used for access to site.
BAR-4
Nicholson Peninsula, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°55′27″N 128°58′24″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Line Auxiliary site, 1957 on long peninsula in Beaufort Sea. Was expansive facility with airstrip and dock facility for resupplying. DEW operations ended in 1993; unattended NWS Short Range Radar installed in 1990 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Station site remediation work was completed by 2005. New site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building. Helicopter pad used for access to site, DEW station airstrip is abandoned as it has partially deteriorated by erosion into the ocean.
BAR-E
Horton River, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 70°00′59″N 126°56′35″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Intermediate site "Malloch Hills", closed and site abandoned in 1963. Was an expansive facility with airstrip and dock facility for resupplying. Reopened as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site in June 1991 to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. Abandoned DEW facility torn down, station site remediation work was completed by 2005, leaving gravel roads, old building pads and abandoned and unusable airstrip. NWS site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building. Helicopter pad used for access to site.
PIN-M
Cape Parry, NT
Radar type: FPS-117
Coordinates: 70°10′17″N 124°43′30″W
Years in service: 1957-present
Established as DEW Main site in 1957. Was an expansive facility with airstrip and dock facility for resupplying. DEW operations ended 1989; minimally-attended NWS Long Range Radar installed 1989. Cape Parry LRRS Airport (ICAO: CZUE) is listed in the Canada Flight Supplement as abandoned.
PIN-1BD
Keats Point, NT
Radar type: FPS-124
Coordinates: 69°40′22″N 121°40′19″W
Years in service: 1991-present
Established in July 1991 as an unattended NWS Short Range Radar site to cover any Long Range Radar surveillance gaps. The site consists of a radar tower, communications facility, and small storage building. Helicopter pad used for access to site.