Canada looks to launch Arctic spyplane Northrop Grumman, the US defence contractor, is developing an ultra-modern unmanned spy plane to allow Canada to defend its vast Arctic territory against incursions from other countries with claims to the region, which is believed to hold the world's last giant undiscovered oil and gas reserves. Canada's interest in the plane raises the stakes in the contest over the Arctic, where countries are using their military presence to assert their sovereignty over the resource-rich and strategically valuable terrain. Northrop Grumman, the US's second largest defence contractor by military sales, has joined L-3 MAS, which supplies Canada's government with aircraft support services, to build the plane that will allow Canada for the first time to fully survey its Arctic territory. Currently Canada has very limited ability to assert its sovereignty over a region hotly contested by several countries. It sends its Aurora CP 140, a manned maritime surveillance aircraft introduced in 1980, to the Arctic a few times a year and otherwise relies on a Polar satellite that takes a very narrow picture of the territory - and thus needs three weeks to collect information on the entire area. Canada felt severely threatened in 2007 when Russia planted its flag 4km beneath the ice at the North Pole. Stephen Harper, prime minister at the time, responded by announcing that the Nanisivik mine, on the northern tip of the Baffin Islands, would house a deep-water docking facility, adding to Canada's military presence in the region. He noted at the time that Canada knew it had to "use or lose" the Arctic. The so-called Polar Hawk, a derivative of the Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk, produced in the US, is able to take a picture of the entire north-west four times in the course of one mission. The plane, which is robotically operated, with human oversight, can fly at 60,000ft and stay aloft for missions that usually range between 24 and 35 hours. The US operates a similar aircraft over its own Arctic territory. The cost of such aircraft varies, but the US planes cost from $30m-$50m. Canada would need three such planes to maintain 24-hour-a-day surveillance. It would allow Canada for the first time to assert its sovereignty by ensuring it knows what occurs on its terrain, from passing ships to contestable mining projects, industry analysts said. Duke Dufresne, vice-president and general manager for Northrop Grumman's unmanned systems business, said the deal for the Polar Hawk Aircraft was part of Canada's First Defence Strategy. He said Polar Hawk would allow Canada to "extend its reach to patrol large geographical areas, keeping constant vigil over the nation's vast Arctic region from coast to coast in a single mission." Canada has a policy to acquire drones, both for combat and surveillance. But even drones that do not carry weapons are a controversial subject because of procurement costs and the global concerns over the use of drones to infringe on other countries" sovereignty. Canada's department of national defence was not immediately available for comment.