Canadian Submarines not part of international Arctic under-ice exercise

Kaila Jefferd-Moore, CBC News 

Royal Navy submarine HMS Trenchant after it had broken through the metre-thick ice of the Arctic Ocean to join two U.S. boats on a major exercise. Ice Exercise 18 (ICEX) is a series of demanding trials in the frigid climate of the Arctic Circle, designed to test submariners' skills in operating under the Arctic ice cap. No Canadian submarines took part. (MoD/Crown copyright 2018)

Over five weeks, the British submarine HMS Trenchant travelled beneath — and broke through — Beaufort Sea ice alongside two U.S. submarines.

It was there as part of the Arctic and Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2018, a U.S. Navy submarine arctic warfare exercise involving U.S., Canadian and British armed forces.

Taking place about 200 kilometres off the Alaskan coast in the Beaufort Sea, the exercise was designed, in part, for the U.S. Navy to practise and test the operational and tactical capabilities of its submarines under ice.

The Trenchant is one of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy submarines that has extensive under-ice capabilities.

"This exercise shows that our Royal Navy is primed and ready to operate in the harshest conditions imaginable, to protect our nation from any potential threats," Armed Forces Minister Mark Lancaster said in a Royal Navy news release.

The Royal Canadian Navy, however, cannot make the same claim about its submarines.

Canada's fleet of submarines, bought 20 years ago from the British Royal Navy, didn't join the latest ICEX operation. The Royal Canadian Navy's HMCS Windsor, Victoria, Chicoutimi and Corner Brook aren't designed for those kinds of under-ice uses.
Canada buys British submarines

Unlike their nuclear counterparts, Canadian submarines are limited to open water and near-ice-edge operations, an acknowledged concession due to budgetary realities. This is in part because they're diesel powered boats, and must come up for air periodically.

Both the U.S.and British navies have nuclear-powered submarines with the capacity to stay underwater for as long as a crew's food supply lasts. They can confidently travel under arctic ice.

Still, the Royal Canadian Navy has been involved in ICEX since 2011, according to naval communications adviser, Jennifer St. Germain. This year, Canada offered a "modest contribution" to ICEX 2018, sending "a naval communicator to support the exercises." That's one Canadian among a sea of many U.S. Navy and Royal Navy personnel.

The Royal Canadian Air Force also participated in the exercises, but did not respond to a CBC request for information on their involvement.

Sailors line up on Canadian submarine HMCS Corner Brook to salute Queen Elizabeth II during an international fleet review Tuesday, June 29, 2010 in Halifax. (Paul Chiasson/CP)

❄️ Submarine HMS Trenchant has broken through the ice of the #NorthPole. Here's the moment she punches through. ❄️

More pictures here: https://t.co/jaxxuzjo9d pic.twitter.com/rER6nUmaHr

— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) 

Canada relies on U.S. for security

Robert Huebert, a political science professor at the University of Calgary with a specific interest in arctic sovereignty and security, said the relationship between the U.S. and Canadian naval forces is one of the strongest in the world.

Without the ability to patrol and protect its arctic sovereignty, Canada relies on its allies — in particular the U.S. Navy — to help enforce it, Huebert explained.

Arctic sovereignty, according to Huebert, means "determining the boundaries within the region of the Arctic that Canada asserts having complete and absolute control [over]."

But the the ability of Canada's submarine fleet to work under ice isn't about sovereignty — it's about security, said Huebert.

"Sovereignty is about the international legal control, but security is about the enforcement ability."

Over the long term, Huebert said, it's important to keep an eye on China's naval forces, which now have icebreakers and an Arctic policy. He said it isn't hard to imagine that the Chinese will someday have under-ice submarine capabilities.

"It does bring up the question of sovereign control," Huebert said.
What does China's new Arctic policy mean for Canada?
A co-operative affair

Under the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) agreement, the Canadian Armed Forces play a supportive role in the joint effort to patrol and protect North American arctic waters.

In 2017, the Canadian Armed Forces contracted Ocean Networks Canada to begin testing the feasibility of sensor-technology that would allow the navy to detect and track vessel traffic entering the Northwest Passage. This would replace the North Warning System that's been in use since the 1980s.

St. Germain said agreements with the Canadian Coast Guard on joint Arctic operations, and the addition of new Arctic patrol ships, mean the Royal Canadian Navy's "presence in the Arctic will increase in the near future."

Bercuson: The challenge of Recruiting Women to the Canadian Armed Forces

By: David Bercuson, iPolitics 

One of the innovative programs that grows out of the Strong, Secure and Engaged defence policy statement released a year ago is the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) project launched by the Department of National Defence in April this year. The project promises $1.3 billion over ten years to be distributed to scholars, businesses and researchers generally who undertake competitive endeavors to help the government solve 16 defence and security challenges in many domains. The majority of the proposals the government is seeking help with are highly technical challenges but one – to achieve 25 per cent female participation in the Canadian forces within ten years – is most decidedly not.

In this undated photo provided by Canadian Armed Forces Capt. Ashley Collette, poses for a photo with children during a patrol in Afghanistan. During her 10-month deployment, Collette led a 50-strong all-male infantry unit providing security to villagers. The Department of National Defence has set the goal of 25 per cent of the Canadian forces being women in the next 10 years. (AP Photo/Capt. Ashley Collette)

Since 2000, women are eligible to serve in any branch of the Canadian Armed Forces in any capacity. Today about 15 per cent of Canada’s soldiers, sailors and air personnel are women. That number has been relatively static for some time. The government wants to see more women in the CAF for very good reasons, namely that female perspectives in the entire range of armed forces activities and defence-related matters is crucial and that any nation, company or military force that either excludes or does not encourage full participation of one half of humanity in its endeavours will be outpaced by those that do.

"But ‘manliness’ today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools."

So what is the problem? The CAF offers a good career for young men and women who crave adventure in their lives, are physically and mentally fit, and who want to step out of the confines of an office or a factory assembly line. Benefits are generous, pay is at least equal to that in the private sector and Canadians today pay a great deal of honour and respect to those who serve.

There is really no secret to increasing the number of women in the Canadian armed forces and it begins with security of the person. From time immemorial, soldiering was seen as a male endeavor. In historian Geoffrey Hayes latest book Crerar’s Lieutenants: Inventing the Canadian Junior Army Officer, 1939-45, much emphasis is placed on that quality called “manliness” that dominated thinking about what would make a good junior officer in the Second World War. The concept itself is not new and other historians have written about “manliness” as an essential quality going back to the days of the Canadian militia. But “manliness” today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools.

If women do not feel secure, at ease and totally comfortable as themselves, in uniform, why would they think of a career in the military forces? It’s hard to say if sexual harassment is any more prevalent in the military than in industry, broadcasting, entertainment or education, but those fields have become as traditional for women as they once were for men. And within those areas of employment, women are increasingly vocal in their fight to be treated as human beings. In the military, with its hierarchical chain of command, fighting city hall is much harder.

The other task, no less important, is to fight that still prevalent belief among males that women may be good civil-military relations folks, but poor trigger pullers, by ensuring from the word go — in training at all levels — that the female person standing beside you is just as qualified in her field of military occupation as you are and will have your back, as necessary.

Easy to say, but the challenges, even in the early 21st century, are immense.
----
David Bercuson is Director of Programs at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

Lockheed Martin Canada Awarded 3 Year Extension on Halifax Frigate Support Contract

Frontline Defence Press Release

Lockheed Martin Canada has been awarded a three-year extension to its In-Service Support contract for the Royal Canadian Navy’s 12 Halifax Class Frigates.

“We are pleased by the vote of confidence from our Royal Canadian Navy customer to continue this existing relationship,” said Gary Fudge, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Canada Rotary Mission Systems. As part of our Combat System Integrator portfolio, Lockheed Martin Canada has established a world class in-service support team which is also being recognized by our international customers.”

The Lockheed Martin Canada In-Service Support team has provided uninterrupted support to the Halifax Class Combat System, Command and Control System and Trainers for 25 years.

The existing In-Service Support contract commenced in November 2008 with the award of the Halifax Class Modernization project. The In-Service support contract also included support of the legacy Halifax Class system prior to ships entering the shipyard for modernization.

The Combat Management Systems (CMS) support entails hardware and software support for the CMS 330, and the CMS to combat subsystem interfaces, ancillary systems and tools, as well as the integration of new weapons, sensors and information sources.

Canada-US Trade Dispute Could Impact US Firms Out in Military Equipment Sales

By: David Pugliese, The National Post 

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tirade against Canada and threats to punish the country could undermine efforts by American firms trying to sell fighter jets and other military equipment to the Canadian Forces, warn defence and industry analysts.

One European firm, Airbus, has already been talking with Canadian officials to pitch its plan to build fighter jets in Quebec as it positions itself to win the $16-billion deal to replace CF-18 aircraft. A similar offer has been made in the past by Dassault Aviation. 

A Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet comes in for a landing at CFB Bagotville, Quebec, on June 7, 2018. GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/GETTY. 

An Italian aerospace firm, Leonardo, is looking at building helicopters in Nova Scotia as it moves towards negotiations for a search-and-rescue aircraft modernization project the Department of National Defence says will be worth between $1 billion and $5 billion.

Trump has hit Canadian aluminum and steel with tariffs, claiming their import is a threat to national security. After the weekend G7 meeting and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s reaffirming that Canada would reciprocate with tariffs on specific U.S. products, Trump vowed more economic grief that will “cost a lot of money for the people of Canada.”

Trump’s move comes at a time when European firms are courting the Canadian government, particularly on big-ticket defence items such as aircraft and warships. Billions of dollars in new purchases are potentially at stake and European firms had a strong presence at the recent CANSEC military equipment trade show in Ottawa.

“Trump certainly isn’t helping U.S. defence companies who want to sell to Canada,” said Martin Shadwick, a defence analyst in Toronto. “It would be very difficult at this point from a political optics point of view for the government to announce awarding contracts to any American firm.”

Shadwick said whether that situation will continue for the next several years, when for instance the decision on new fighter jets is supposed to be made, would depend on any further actions by the president. Two U.S. aircraft, the Boeing Super Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-35, are among the top contenders in that jet competition. The other three aircraft are from European companies.

An earlier trade dispute with Canada has already backfired on Boeing and the Trump administration, costing the U.S. billions in fighter jet sales. Last year Boeing complained to the U.S. Commerce Department that Canadian subsidies for Quebec-based Bombardier allowed it to sell its civilian passenger aircraft in the U.S. at cut-rate prices. As a result, the Trump administration brought in a tariff of almost 300 per cent against Bombardier aircraft sold in the U.S.

In retaliation, Canada decided against buying 18 new Super Hornet fighter jets from Boeing. That deal would have been worth more than US$5 billion.

Trump certainly isn't helping U.S. defence companies who want to sell to Canada

Christyn Cianfarani, president of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, said it is too early to determine the impact of the U.S. tariffs on the domestic defence industry. “Tariffs are never good for trade or business,” she added.

“CADSI is monitoring the issue and consulting our members to better understand the potential impact to Canadian firms, both in terms of the direct impact of any tariffs and the more indirect, long term impact on supply chains and market access,” she said.

There is growing concern that Canadian aviation firms could be hurt by Trump’s aluminum tariffs. The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada did not respond to a request for comment. But its counterpart in the U.S. has voiced concern that American aerospace companies could feel pain.

In March, the U.S. Aerospace Industries Association noted it was deeply concerned about Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum as it “will raise costs and disrupt the supply chain, putting U.S. global competitiveness at risk.”

“There is also a significant threat for retaliation from other countries towards American ­made products,” the association noted in a statement.

Canada is the largest exporter of aluminum and steel to the U.S.

Boeing Sending Technical Staff with RCAF to Mali

By: David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

Boeing says it will be sending a technical representative to Mali to support the RCAF when it deploys its Chinook helicopters. So far one specialist is scheduled to go but others could follow.

The Boeing staff will be at the RCAF base in Mali to consult on issues that arise during the Chinook operations in what is expected to be a deployment that is hard on the helicopters because of the environment.

Members of the Canadian Medical Emergency Response Force Protection Team fall back to the CH -147 Chinook helicopter, during Exercise Maple Resolve in Wainwright, Alberta on the 16th of May 2018. Photo: Corporal Andrew Kelly, Canadian Forces Combat Camera IS08-2018-0010-009

On March 19 the Canadian government announced its commitment to deploy a task force made up of medium utility and heavy lift transport helicopters for up to 12 months to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.

The task force will provide two CH-147F Chinook helicopters from 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, based in Petawawa, Ont. and four CH-146 Griffon helicopters from 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, based in Edmonton, Alta. Aircraft spares could also be made available to the Aviation Detachment.

The aircraft and personnel are expected in Africa by August.

In Mali, the CH-146 Griffon helicopters will serve as an armed escort for the Chinooks as they carry out UN missions. The Canadian Armed Forces will provide MINUSMA with a number of medically-trained personnel who will help in medical evacuations for partners and allied forces on the ground and provide logistical support for the mission.

UN Secretary General says Canadian Peacekeepers entering Mali 'war zone' but downplays risks

By: Katie Simpson, CBC News 

When Canadian Forces arrive at the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali this summer, soldiers will be entering one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world.

But the new UN secretary general is trying to downplay the safety and security threats Canadians will face once they land on the ground.

During an exclusive interview with CBC News at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., Antonio Guterres acknowledged that Mali is a "war zone," adding that casualties are "possible" but not "inevitable."

"Inevitable is not a word that is adequate. The word is possible," Guterres said.

"Even in very peaceful environments, we have soldiers that die with car crashes, with diseases, so, the number of people dying for … causes not related to fighting is normally higher than those that come directly from, I would say, war incidents."

UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh arrive at the Niger Battalion Base in Ansongo, eastern Mali, in February 2015. (Marco Dormino/United Nations/Associated Press)

Since the United Nations operation launched in 2013, more than 160 peacekeepers have been killed in Mali.

The Canadian government announced in March it would be sending as many as 250 troops to be part of that mission, while also supplying six helicopters.

Those soldiers are expected to arrive in the west African nation this August; however, the details still need to be finalized.

'It is a war zone indeed there'

Guterres met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday during the G7 summit.

"It is a war zone indeed there, but, it's not for the peacekeepers to fight the war," the secretary general said.

"It is a dangerous environment and … peacekeepers may be attacked, and it's important that we take all precautions to prevent that."

"Canadian peacekeepers are extremely welcome," Guterres said, adding that it is important for developed countries to provide more than just financial aid.

Guterres, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are seen at the G7 summit in La Malbaie, Que., on Saturday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The UN envisions Canadian troops taking on a largely traditional peacekeeping role, despite the dramatic evolution in threats in these types of conflict zones.

Guterres said Canadian peacekeepers will focus on the "protection of civilians, to make sure that civilians do not pay the price of the difficulties that exist in Mali."

"If we want to serve those that are more vulnerable, those that suffer more, then there are risks in it always."

In Mali, how do we avoid helping the bad guys again?

By: Doug Saunder, The Globe and Mail

In a few weeks, six military helicopters and 250 soldiers will begin their journey from Canada to the Sahara Desert, where they will join more than 11,000 international forces in a five-year-old operation known as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.

MINUSMA Guinean contingents set up positions on higher ground around Kidal, Mali, in December 2016.
UN PHOTO/HARANDANE DICKO/UN PHOTO

And once again, there is controversy: Are we pouring money and lives into another mission that risks becoming a decade-long quagmire, with unclear goals? Has the Trudeau government pushed our soldiers into this commitment because there’s pressure from our allies and a voter appetite to see maple leaves on the peacekeepers’ blue helmets?

While there’s some truth in both accusations, the Mali mission is not, by itself, an unworthy or imprudent use of our military resources. Mali, a hopeful and comparatively stable country until Islamist forces invaded its north in 2012, needs help rescuing itself from an outside invader hated by most of the population. The UN mission is not a Western imposition or a regime-change operation: Mali’s legitimate government has requested military assistance with what should be a limited operation against a jihadi insurgency – thus the operation’s name.

That said, there is reason to be gravely concerned about the prospects of this sort of military mission. While this is still officially a peacekeeping operation, in practice it bears no resemblance to the classic conflict-prevention campaigns of decades ago. Its mission is “to help stabilize key population centres and support the re-establishment of state authority throughout Mali, and to develop and implement programs for the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants.” It is, in everything but name, a counter-insurgency operation.

And counterinsurgency operations – designed to neutralize an extremist guerrilla enemy by strengthening a country’s civic institutions and supporting the population – have a terrible track record.

The Mali goals are strikingly similar to those of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, under NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The stabilization and institution-building operations in Afghanistan were expensively implemented by hundreds of thousands of people, lavishly and carefully designed by scholars and social scientists – and they failed badly.

Last week, the U.S. government’s Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released its report concluding that 17 years of “efforts to stabilize insecure and contested areas in Afghanistan mostly failed,” and that elsewhere the Afghan mission “overestimated its ability to build and reform government institutions as part of the stabilization strategy,” and “spent far too much money, far too quickly, in a country woefully unprepared to absorb it.”

As a consequence, “opportunities for corruption and elite capture [theft] abounded, making many of those projects more harmful than helpful,” and “power brokers and predatory government officials with access to coalition projects became kings with patronage to sell, fueling conflicts,” and the many Afghans left outside these power networks “found natural allies in the Taliban, who used that support to divide and conquer communities the coalition was keen to win over.”

This pattern keeps repeating itself: Even the most well-intentioned and well-designed “stabilization and assistance” operations end up benefiting the enemy.

Aisha Ahmad, a political scientist at the University of Toronto who specializes in the financing and economic activities of jihadi extremist groups (patterns she investigates in her new book Jihad & Co.: Black Markets and Islamist Power) has found that most efforts to stabilize and normalize countries are designed in ways that benefit the jihadis more than those they’re meant to support.


The reason why jihadist groups keep returning to power in African and Central Asian countries, she writes in a new essay, “has remarkably little to do with jihadist ideology or identity politics. Rather, there is a clear economic logic behind these patterns of jihadist resurgence.”

Big international interventions (whether UN or NATO), she writes, “flood conflict zones with foreign resources, which create a series of perverse incentives. These incentives change the cost calculations and the behaviour of local armed groups, especially the international community’s local allies. Too often, foreign dollars socialize and incentivize these local allies to behave poorly — and indeed, even sabotage mission success.”

From the perspective of a poor country’s economy, an international military mission is something like a discovery of oil – a flood of untethered money that risks a “resource curse” effect, making the worst people more powerful. This has a tendency to turn insurgent groups into winners and governments into losers. It is still possible to play an important role in making Mali a better place – but, as Dr. Ahmad concludes, we’d better pay a lot more attention to what our money is doing.

Canada's Next Mission in Iraq - Awaiting Iraqi Approval

By: Lee Berthiaume, Global News 

OTTAWA – Canada is waiting for the Iraqi government to sign off before launching the next phase of its fight against the Islamic State militant group, Gen. Jonathan Vance said Thursday.

Canadian special forces are preparing to work with the Iraqi military to secure the war-ravaged city of Mosul, where Vance said ISIL remains a threat even as thousands of displaced families return home.

Yet before that can happen, the Iraqis need to form a new government – which has proven difficult following elections last month – and indicate whether it still wants international forces operating in the country.

“There are a number of factors affecting mission planning for Iraq as we go forward,” Vance said after an event organized by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“The government of Iraq needs to form a government and signal its intent as it relates to future military operations by coalition or on a bilateral basis in Iraq. So that’s Job 1.”

Canadian troops have been largely on the sidelines in Iraq since October when Canada suspended all assistance to the Iraqi military and Kurdish peshmerga when the two clashed over the latter’s independence referendum.

Up until that point, Canadian special forces had worked almost exclusively alongside the Kurds for more than three years to first stop ISIL’s advance across northern Iraq and then to dislodge it from the region.

Since the suspension of assistance, ISIL has lost control of the last of its territory in Iraq and turned to traditional insurgency tactics such as suicide bombings, while tensions between the Iraqis and Kurds have also cooled.

But friction between the country’s various political parties, none of whom secured enough votes for a majority government, have raised concerns about renewed divisions along religious and ethnic lines.

The Canadian Forces have been conducting reconnaissance and other preparatory work to get ready for the launch of the next phase of their mission in Iraq, Vance said, with a specific focus on helping families return to Mosul.

The country’s second-largest city was held by ISIL for three years, until Iraqi forces – with help from Canada and other international partners – were able to liberate it from the extremist group following nearly a year of bloody fighting.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled the city ahead of its capture by ISIL and during its liberation, and Vance indicated Canadian troops will help Iraqi forces make it more secure so families can return.

“It needs to be secure and there’s still remnants of ISIL there,” he said.

“They’re not actively conducting operations, but they could. So, trying to ensure successful security conditions in Mosul so that people have the confidence to return home is also what we’re looking at.”

Vance also confirmed that Canada has officially ceased operations with the Kurds after years of working alongside the peshmerga in the north of the country, and that it intends to partner exclusively with the Iraqi military.

The military’s current mandate in Iraq is set to expire in March.

Is Canada a Security Threat to the US? No - Canadians Actually Help Keep US Safe.

By: Tristen Hopper, The National Post

It's been two days since President Trump called Prime Minister Trudeau 'weak' and a 'backstabber', and it’s been a week since the Trump Administration slapped Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs on the ground that reliance on our imports was threatening the “national security” of the United States.

If Canadians are particularly galled at this, it might be because no foreign country in modern times has done more to arm and equip the United States than Canada. “I would not be surprised if every single major aircraft or warship in U.S. military service today has Canadian components in it,” said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Below, a cursory summary of some of the Canadian stuff used by history’s most powerful military.

Landing gear

We’ll start with an entry that directly concerns steel and aluminum. Quebec-based Héroux-Devtek is the world’s third largest aircraft landing gear company, and some of that is thanks to a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Specifically, Héroux-Devtek is in charge of landing gear repair and overhaul for several large U.S. aircraft, including the heavy-lift C-130 Hercules. Of course, landing gear is made almost entirely of steel or aluminum. So, thanks to these new tariffs, American military procurers are either going to start getting hosed on their Héroux-Devtek contracts — or they’re going to have start getting their landing gear overhauls from a U.S. company that isn’t their first choice.

Armoured personnel carriers

“Canada and the US have been building military equipment for each other since the summer of 1940,” David Bercuson, a military historian at the University of Calgary, told the National Post. “Literally billions of dollars of such equipment has passed the border since then.” The most obvious example is the Stryker. There are nearly 5,000 Stryker armoured personnel carriers in the U.S. military, and all of them were built in London, Ontario. Not only that, but the Stryker is even based on a Canadian design, the LAV III. Coming in at a rock bottom $4 million apiece, the Americans use Strykers for everything: Ambulances, firefighting, missile platforms, chemical weapons defence and mine detection. They even started rigging them up with giant lasers to shoot down enemy drones. Armoured vehicles happen to be a Canadian specialty. While the United States was busy throwing money at big ticket items such as tanks and attack helicopters, the shoestring Canadians have gotten very good at the much cheaper task of simply strapping guns and armour to oversized trucks. And if a U.S. diplomat found themselves touring Iraq in an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser, chances are good they were shielded from bullets and IEDs by Canadian workmanship.

Stryker in action. Trevor Robb/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Specialized aircraft

The United States Army Parachute Team leap out of a modified Twin Otter. United States Military

Here again, the United States has it covered when it comes to big ticket aircraft such as fighters or bombers. But the U.S. military will occasionally call up Canadian plane-makers when it needs something quirky. Bombardier has retooled some of its airliners and business jets to act as airborne radar platforms. When the United States Army Parachute Team appears at air shows, they’re jumping out of a Canadian-made de Havilland Twin Otter. De Havilland has also hooked up the Americans with some of its famously rugged prop planes for use in electronic warfare, remote cargo drops or simply moving National Guard troops around Alaska. All told, the U.S. military is flying more planes built in Canada than in any other foreign country.

The U.S. military’s only cargo drone (and it has the most Canadian name imaginable)
A U.S. special forces unit is pinned down on a remote Central Asian mountaintop. Surrounded by militants on all sides, it needs an emergency airlift of water and ammunition to even see daybreak. Enter the SnowGoose, an unmanned autogyro specializing in precision deliveries to special forces. The SnowGoose is the U.S. military’s only cargo drone, and it’s an all-Canadian creation. An emerging theme on this list is that Canada is great at building niche military hardware for cheap, and the SnowGoose is no exception. As the drone’s Stittsville, Ont. builders note, it can move cargo across a battlefield at a fraction of the price of other drones.

Nuclear Fuel

Uranium is a big part of the modern U.S. military. It has more than 100 nuclear-powered vessels in the navy, and there’s also those 7,000 atomic weapons it still has lying around. Canada has sold a whole lot of uranium to the U.S. military, going all the way back to the initial atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. However, the taps were somewhat shut off in the 1960s, when Canada started limiting uranium exports to “peaceful” purposes. Still, with Canada ranking as the United States’ top uranium dealer, we help keep their uranium topped up enough to have plenty left over for the military. With the Trump administration in the midst of a Trillion Dollor Nuclear Modernization plan, keeping Canada friendly is probably a good idea. 

Speaking of nuclear weapons, it might behoove the White House to remember that if a Russian or North Korean missile should happen to be fired in their direction, a Canada-based NORAD station will likely be among the first to let them know.

Making fighter jets last forever

This entry should fill thrifty Canadians with particular pride: We’ve gotten so good at squeezing every penny out of our CF-18s that we’re now globally renowned experts at fighter jet life extension. Among other things, Canada invented “robotic shot-peening,” a method of using robots to restore aging aircraft with a precision never before known. The technology has been exported to Europe, Australia and, in 2013, the U.S. Navy brought in the Quebec aerospace company L-3 MAS to give its jets a makeover.

A very old, but very well taken-care-of, CF-18. File

Battlefield communications
Tactical radios are another niche technology in which Canadian companies have a built a slow but steady reputation with the Americans. In a 2017 reporton Canada/U.S. military industrial cooperation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that the U.S. military has been using Canadian radios since the 1960s. Ultra TCS, headquartered in Montreal, remains a supplier of tactical radios to both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. And these aren’t just walkie-talkies; they’re hyper-advanced networks that can provide email, voice and even video hook-ups to American troops in battle.

Jeeps

That’s right. The Second World War-era Willys Jeep — one of the most American vehicles in history — was manufactured in part by Canada. Ford Motor Company of Canada churned out thousands of Jeeps after the Second World War. In 1952 alone, Canadian factories were making an average of seven of them per day. According to Ford Canada’s website, “these postwar Canadian-made Jeep were shipped to the United States, for the American military forces.”

A 1952 Willys Jeep similar to what Canada would have been manufacturing for the United States. file. 

Space robots

The space shuttle was initially envisioned as a vehicle to steal Russian military satellites, in which the Canadarm would have been critical. Max Harrold/Postmedia News

DARPA is the U.S. agency tasked with pursuing military so cutting edge that they occasionally veer into outright science fiction. Last year, DARPA signed a deal with Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to design robots that could be dispatched into space in order to repair U.S. military satellites. And like most times Canada is brought in for U.S. military stuff, the robot space mechanic program is indeed intended as a cost saving measure. Canada has been a leader in space defence for some time. Our beloved Canadarm, in fact, technically qualifies as an early military space robot. Over the course of the space shuttle program 11 missions were sent up to perform classified work for the Pentagon. We still don’t know the specifics of what the Canadarm did for Uncle Sam on those missions, but the arm is a certifiable Cold Warrior.