Just months before the Harper government announced it would spend an estimated $16-billion on new fighter jets, a report for the Defence Department recommended using "flocking" pilot-less drones to enforce Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic.

A January, 2010, study for Defence Research and Development Canada - the Defence Department's research arm - recommends stationing aircraft stocked with drones at permanent locations in the North so they can be dispatched urgently for rescue or surveillance.

Read the entire Globe and Mail article here.