Questions surround Canada's promise of air defence system for Ukraine one year on

Ukraine's president says getting air defence systems onto the battlefield is the top priority in the new year, but the system Canada promised a year ago still hasn't been delivered — and it's not clear when it will be.

Ottawa announced plans to donate a $406-million surface-to-air missile defence system, known by the acronym NASAMS, on Jan. 10, 2023. Nearly a year later, one of the two companies involved in building the NASAMS system says it does not have a contract for the Canadian donation.

The plan is for Canada to pay the United States government the total cost of the system, and for the U.S. to enter into a foreign military sales agreement with Ukraine directly.

Such an arrangement would allow Canada to avoid applying to the U.S. government for further approval to send the system on to Ukraine, which is required whenever American military technology is sold outside the country.

Ukraine says the medium-range missile systems are critical to defending its territory from Russian bombardment. They're capable of taking down aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.

While Canada paid for the NASAMS system last March, it remains unclear exactly when it will get to Ukraine. It's not even clear if the Defence Department itself knows when that will happen. A spokesperson said the department was working with its U.S. partners to determine the timeline.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ramping up the pressure to make it happen quickly as he speaks with world leaders early in the year.

In a Jan. 4 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said, «Our entire diplomatic team, everyone in charge of communicating with partners, and all Ukrainian representatives around the world are fully committed to ensuring the delivery of additional