Anand announced the planned $406-million purchase in January 2023, but as the Defence Department recently told CBC News, the federal government didn't transfer funds to the United States to pay for the system and start the process until March 2023, at the end of the fiscal year.
"It required more than just a conversation and an agreement between the secretary and the minister. There had to be a contract. And because we were purchasing through the United States, it required congressional approval as well. And so there is actually a legal process in the United States to enable them to acquire and purchase munitions that they would send to another government."
Washington, however, could not begin to negotiate a contract with the manufacturers until it had both its own funds and Canada's money in hand.
The U.S. Congress gave the green light in May 2023.
When Ukraine approached the United States about acquiring air defence systems at the onset of the full Russian invasion, the government in Kyiv was initially told it would take up to five years — an answer that left Ukrainian officials dismayed.
The average time to build a new NASAMS is two years, the CEO of Raytheon, Gregory Hayes, has been quoted as saying.