Major Carson Choy

NORAD C-UAS Specialist North Amerian Aerospace Defence Command, Canadian Air Force

Major Carson Choy is a Counter-UAS staff officer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) Counter-UAS Division. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in December 2000 as a Reserve Naval Warfare Officer while in the Commercial Aviation Management program at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). After serving onboard several Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels in the west coast of North America, he transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an Air Combat Systems Officer (ACSO – formerly termed Air Navigator) in 2007. Maj Choy graduated from ACSO wings training in 2009 and was posted to 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron in Comox, British Columbia. As he had a Commercial - Multi Instrument Flight Rules pilots license through his university program, he was one of a handful of ACSOs selected to fly the CU-170 Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) in Kandahar Airfield (KAF), Afghanistan. He deployed to KAF from April to October 2010 and upon return to Canada, was selected to be one of two Canadians seconded to Royal Australian Air Force No.5 Flight, their Heron RPAS unit. From 2012 to 2015, Maj Choy was posted to Brisbane, Australia where he cross-trained as a sensor operator and deployed again to KAF in 2012-2013. After his posting to Australia, he returned to 407 Sqn and participated in numerous operations and exercises until 2019. He graduated from the Aerospace Studies Program in 2020 and was posted to Ottawa with the RCAF RPAS project, culminating in the purchase of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian. In 2022, he was posted as an Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Staff, and in 2023 he was posted to NORAD Headquarters in Colorado Springs