AETE to move from Cold Lake to Ottawa

By: David Pugliese and Tyler Dawson, The National Post 

The Aerospace, Engineering, Testing Estavlishment Cover Phoro - Griffon Helicopter, CF-18 Hornet, and CT-114 Tutor

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) flight test unit Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) will move from CFB Cold Lake (Alta.) to the airport of Canada’s capital, Ottawa. The AETE will thus partner with the National Research Council (NRC) Flight Research Laboratory, the Canadian government’s civil flight test unit, based here, to streamline flight testing and evaluation capability.

Meanwhile, space will be freed up at CFB Cold Lake for the arrival of additional fighter aircraft. The costs of moving the AETE is part of the budget which had been set aside to acquire the former Australian F/A-18A/B Hornet fighter aircraft, the first of which are due to arrive in 2019. However, the move of AETE to Ottawa will not take place before the Summer of 2021.

The National Research Council (NRC) fleet consists of Bell 205, Bell 206 and Bell 212 helicopters, a Convair 580, an Extra 300L, a Falcon 20 jet, a Harvard trainer, a DHC-6 Twin Otter and a T-33 jet. The AETE fleet currently has six CT-114 Tutors, two CH-146 Griffons and two CF-188 Hornets on strength.

The federal government will create a new centre of excellence in Ottawa to support aircraft testing, but it will come at the cost of relocating staff and shutting down existing military facilities in Alberta.

The move affects the Canadian military’s Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, or AETE, which has been at Cold Lake, Alta. since 1971. Under the new plan AETE would be relocated to the international airport in Ottawa and partnered with the National Research Council Flight Research Laboratory and Transport Canada Aircraft Services Directorate to create a centre of excellence for flight testing and evaluation. The move would affect almost one-third of the unit, which employs 166 military personnel and 22 public servants. The remaining two-thirds would be reassigned to other air force functions, said Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier.

Moving AETE will save $14 million a year and free up space for the arrival of more fighter jets at Cold Lake. Canada is in the process of purchasing used fighter aircraft from Australia and the federal government has committed to buying 88 new jets to replace the existing fleet of CF-18s.

“This partnership will streamline our flight testing and evaluation capability, while ensuring sufficient space is available for the arrival of additional fighter aircraft in Cold Lake,” Le Bouthillier said.


This partnership will streamline our flight testing and evaluation capability, while ensuring sufficient space is available for the arrival of additional fighter aircraft in Cold Lake

The move, however, is not sitting well with local politicians.

David Yurdiga, the Conservative MP for the area, said he’d heard about the move on Monday when it was raised at the House Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts. DND officials briefing the committee said there had been consultation about the move with local politicians. “It’s totally not true,” said Yurdiga.

Craig Copeland, the mayor of Cold Lake, said the city hasn’t yet received a briefing from officials in Ottawa. “It’s been sort of verbally mentioned over the years that there would be a re-org,” he explained. “We’re hoping to get somebody to brief us.”

Details about the exact number of jobs that will be moved from Alberta are still not clear. It is not known how many of the air force personnel who will be reassigned to new jobs would continue to operate from Cold Lake.

Yurdiga said the loss of jobs would hit the community hard but he added that defence minister Harjit Sajjan had assured him there would be a “net benefit” to the community. “Cold Lake can’t afford to lose even one position,” Yurdiga said.

“There are so many unanswered questions and uncertainty is what the community is facing,” he added.

Copeland said he had heard an estimate of 50 jobs being lost. That would be a real blow to the area, already suffering from depressed oil prices, and with a home foreclosure rate, he said, of around 10 per cent. “That is concerning to me,” Copeland said. “On the one hand it’s tough to see people leave our community but on the other hands, we are hopeful — and expecting — that the Canadian military’s going to be investing (locally) for the new fighter jet program.”

AETE currently occupies the second-largest and newest hangar at Cold Lake, which will be repurposed for other air force needs, including the new fighter program.

The final details of the move are still being worked on, including costs, Le Bouthillier said. DND is in ongoing discussions with the Ottawa International Airport Authority regarding the location of the new centre, he added.

The costs for relocating AETE are included in the $470 million the Liberal government has set aside for buying the used Australian F-18 fighter jets, and would not take place before summer 2021.

The Cold Lake location was primarily selected for AETE because of the large evaluation range nearby and its favourable climate for flight testing. AETE employs test pilots, flight test engineers, qualified systems evaluators, specialist engineers, and technologists.

Postmedia first revealed the proposal to move AETE in April 2016. The plan first started under the Conservative government but the Liberals continued with the relocation initiative. At the time the Canadian Forces said it would still use the bombing ranges associated with the Cold Lake installation but other test work could be moved.

At the time, the military told defence industry representatives the remote Cold Lake location made it challenging to attract or retain people and that relocating could save money.

RCAF - No Documented Fighter "Gap" Evidence

By: David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen 

Neither Canada’s top soldier nor the commander of the air force had or produced any records about a fighter jet “capability gap” in the year leading up to the Liberal government’s announcement that such a critical issue had to be dealt with by spending billions to buy aircraft.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan used the capability gap argument in November 2016 to justify a $5-billion program to buy new Super Hornet jets, a deal since scuttled, and later a $500-million program to purchase used F-18 planes from Australia.

But in the year leading up to Sajjan’s announcement about the urgent need to acquire such planes, neither Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance nor Lt.-Gen. Mike Hood, then head of the Royal Canadian Air Force, produced any documentation indicating there was ever a capability gap, according to Department of National Defence’s Access to Information branch. In addition, no such documents exist among the records of various members of Sajjan’s staff, according to the department.

A Royal Australian Air Force F-18 Hornet performs during the Australian International Airshow in 2015.PAUL CROCK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

It would be normal practice to have hundreds, if not thousands of pages of records, discussing such a key defence issue or gap if it existed, military insiders tell Postmedia.

But records obtained by Postmedia through the Access law do show that just before Sajjan’s announcement that the 18 jets were needed in the “interim” to deal with the capability gap, the minister was told the existing fleet of CF-18s was in better shape than expected and could keep flying until 2032.


Conservative MPs allege the capability gap didn’t exist and was concocted by the government to delay a larger project to buy new jets, a competition that might end up selecting the F-35 stealth fighter the Liberals vowed never to purchase.

When asked about the lack of documentation about the capability gap, a DND official said the department could not comment.

Taxpayers may get more information Tuesday when the Auditor General’s office releases its examination of the fighter jet plan.

The deal to buy the 18 Super Hornets as “interim” jets eventually collapsed after the aircraft’s U.S. supplier, Boeing, angered the Liberals by complaining to the Trump administration that a Canadian firm was receiving unfair subsidies to build civilian aircraft. Because of that complaint, the government deemed Boeing an unreliable partner and instead struck a deal to buy used F-18 jets from Australia. That project is estimated to cost $500 million.

Those jets are needed on an interim basis not only to help fill the capability gap but because the current fleet of CF-18 fighters is too old, the government has stated.

But nine days before Sajjan held his November 2016 news conference to announce the original Super Hornet interim jet deal, the minister was told the CF-18 fleet was in better shape than expected.

“Analysis over the summer indicates that the structural damage is less than anticipated and that all aircraft can be flown and retired at a predicted rate beyond 2025 without additional investment in structural work,” Sajjan was told by deputy defence minister John Forster. “Doing so would require an investment to 2032 (when the last legacy aircraft would retire).”

Shortly after Sajjan’s news conference, Hood explained to a Senate committee it was the government that brought in a policy change that required the RCAF to meet both its NATO and North American air defence commitments at the same time. That, in turn, created the capability gap.

“That demands a certain number of aircraft that our present CF-18 fleet is unable to meet on its day-to-day serviceability rate,” said Hood, who has since retired. “They’ve (the Liberals) changed the policy of the number of aircraft I have to have.”

Hood said he didn’t know the reason for the change. “I’m not privy to the decisions behind the policy change,” added the general.

In addition, a 2014 report produced by Defence Research and Development Canada recommended against the purchase of such “bridging” aircraft to deal with gaps in capability. “The costs involved with bridging options make them unsuitable for filling capability gaps in the short term,” the report states. “Any short-term investment results in disproportionately high costs during the bridging period.”

That report, which had been in the public domain for years, was removed from the DND website. The DND claimed it was pulled down from its website because the report was found to contain classified information.

Smol: Trump Paying Attention to Canadian Defence Spending

By: Robert Smol, CBC News 

Defence procurement is the government promise that keeps on rebooting. At the moment, Canada is preparing to purchase 25 second-hand F-18 fighter jets from Australia — pending U.S. approval —as a stop-gap measure until it can replace its fleet with new jets. The earlier plan was to buy 18 used jets, making this the roughly zillionth update to Canada's defence procurement plan.

This de facto refusal to truly modernize our fighter jet fleet will make Canada look like the runt compared to our allies. And by "allies," I am referring mainly to nations beyond our increasingly rogue and unpredictable friend to the south; nations such as Australia, Denmark, Norway and the Czech Republic which, unlike Canada, are not allowing their government's fighter jet procurement plans to indefinitely sputter and stall.

In spite of promises made in the last budget, the Liberal government's modest defence procurement goals remain unfulfilled. In its 2017 spending roadmap, the Trudeau government promised $6.2 billion in capital spending in the first year. In actual fact, only $3.9 billion went to our emaciated forces.

The Harper government was actually not much better when it came to defence spending, despite its bellicose rhetoric in support of the military. On top of canceled programs and perennial delays, the Conservative government was also in the habit of making self-promoting announcements of new defence procurement initiatives, without actually earmarking the financing needed.

In fact, while in power, the Harper Conservatives allowed about $9.6 billion in military funding to lapse. Speaking to CBC in 2015, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page noted that the government was not spending the defence dollars authorized by Parliament, suggesting that "National Defence is becoming a source of funds to reduce the deficit."

Relying on the U.S.

Could this perennial dithering be the result of institutional incompetence? Lack of political will? Or is it simply grounded in the assumption that the United States will always be willing to use its military, at no cost to us, to protect Canada for Canadians? My concern is that it's primarily the latter — a premise especially worrying under the current U.S. president, who has made it clear he cares little about the welfare of his allies.

In any case, it is telling that our commitment to defend our airspace, the second-largest in the world, will be a tiny fleet of second-hand fighters.

To reiterate: Canada is the anomaly among our allies. Regardless of their own political and economic challenges, smaller nations such as Australia, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have ensured that their air forces have the modern aircraft needed to do the job. Success in modern warfare requires high tech, highly mobile delivery of lethal force on key enemy targets in both offensive and defensive operations, as well as over long distances and over very short periods of time. Fighter jets are a leading edge in the delivery of that capability. We need them.

Procurement among allies

Norway has purchased and is in the process of acquiring 52 F-35 jets, with several already becoming operational. Denmark is buying 27 of the same. Next door, non-aligned Sweden continues its tradition of defence self-reliance with a deal to acquire 60 of the latest JAS-39Gripen, with plans to lease 14 jets each to the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Australia, from which Canada is getting our second-hand F-18s, has already purchased and is taking on a fleet of 72 new F-35 Lightning — ironically, the same aircraft that we might finally decide we need.

We might think we don't need to match these efforts. We might well choose to hold on to the delusion that our "polite" reputation and proximity to the U.S war machine will keep us safe.

But how reliable will the United States be as a guarantor of our own defence when, under its current administration, it unapologetically shuns, slanders and shames traditional allies, all while seeming to embrace countries like North Korea and Russia?

And even if the willingness was there, the U.S military is beginning to question its own ability to sustain consistent military superiority beyond its borders. The U.S Department of Defence's own risk assessment titled "At Our Own Peril," published in 2017, states that the U.S military "no longer enjoys an unassailable position versus state competitors" and that it no longer can "automatically generate consistent and sustained local military superiority at range."

So maybe a well-equipped Canadian air force — and entire military, for that matter — is both a practical necessity, as well as a symbolic imperative. We must be ready to act, as well as be seen to be ready to act, along with our allies.

Perhaps we could afford to live with the delusion that the United States would always be ready to come to our aid in the past. Not anymore.

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Robert Smol served over 20 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. He is currently a teacher and freelance writer in Toronto.

RCAF Ups Used-Aussie F-18 Purchase to 25

By: David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

Canada has boosted the number of used Australian fighter jets it is purchasing to 25 but the deal to acquire those aircraft still hinges on approval from the U.S. government.

A Royal Canadian Air Force CF-188 Hornet departs Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California to conduct a mission as part of Exercise PUMA STRIKE 16-B on November 16, 2016. Photo: Cpl Manuela Berger, 4 Wing Imaging CK01-2016-1124-014

The Liberal government originally announced it would buy 18 used Australian F-18 jets to augment the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18s until new aircraft can be purchased in the coming years.

But it has added seven more used Australian F-18 aircraft to the deal, the Department of National Defence has confirmed.

Those extra aircraft will be stripped down for parts, Dan Blouin, a spokesman for the DND, said Friday.

It is not known yet if the seven aircraft will be flown to Canada or shipped, he added.

The exact cost of purchasing the 25 aircraft, along with weapons and other equipment is not yet known as negotiations are still underway on the deal, Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough recently told journalists. The Liberal government has set aside up to $500 million for the project.

An Australian Senate hearing was recently told that Canada was presented with a cost proposal from the Australian government last year. “They accepted our offer in December, but they have also put in a further request for some seven aircraft for system testing, training and spares,” Australian Air Vice Marshal Cath Roberts told the hearing.

The U.S. government is examining the deal and will have to give its approval to Australia before that country can sell the F-18s to Canada.

Approval is needed because the F-18s were built in the U.S. with American technology.

Canada is hoping for the U.S. approval sometime in the summer.

Although U.S.-Canada relations have hit a slump, with American President Donald Trump vowing to punish Canadians because of ongoing economic disputes, the DND does not expect that situation to affect approval for the fighter jet deal to proceed.

Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence’s assistant deputy minister of materiel, has said he expects that a deal will be in place by the end of the year with deliveries of the Australian planes to begin in the summer of 2019. The Liberal government originally planned for the arrival of the first used aircraft in January 2019.

The Liberal government had originally planned to buy 18 new Super Hornet fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing.

But last year Boeing complained to the U.S. Commerce Department that Canadian subsidies for Quebec-based Bombardier allowed it to sell its C-series 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 the Bombardier aircraft sold in the U.S.

In retaliation, Canada cancelled the deal to buy the 18 Super Hornets. That project would have cost more than US$5 billion.

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.

Still No Cost Associated with Used Australian F-18 Purchase

By: Charlie Pinkerton, iPolitics

Costs for the used F-18 fighter jets the government plans to purchase from Australia are still up in the air, the minister of defence revealed Tuesday when pried by opposition MPs on the topic.

“We don’t have the exact costs just yet,” Harjit Sajjan told members of the House Standing Committee on National Defence.

“We will know, but we want to make sure we have the right details. Giving you an estimated cost right now would be irresponsible. It’s better to make sure that we get you the correct information once we have the further details,” he said.

Military personnel guide a CF-18 Hornet into position at the CFB Cold Lake, in Cold Lake, Alberta on Tuesday October 21, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

The government first announced that it would be buying 18 used Boeing F-18s from the Australian government for roughly $500 million. In the Royal Canadian Air Force the model is known as the CF-18. Canadian fighters have flown the jets since 1982. Canada opted out of a plan to purchase a fleet of modern Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets from the United States and into an agreement with Australia for the more than 30-year-old planes in December.

The defence minister said the first of the planes purchased from Australia should touch down on Canadian soil in Spring 2019.

Which specific Australian F-18s to be sold to Canada has yet to be settled.

“We don’t want to take aircrafts that are at the very end of their service life,” Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister of materiel of the Department of National Defence, told the committee. “These will be flyable assets that are in service with the Royal Australian Air Force as we see today.”

Finn said the planes that Canada is purchasing have been used more on average than the same jets currently in Canada’s air force. He asked for the committee to look beyond the hours-used of the aircraft.

“They, like us, have put a lot of investment into those air craft. I’ve sailed on 40-year-old ships that had brand new modern missiles. I think we’ve got to be careful about the age of an aircraft and saying that reflects its capability,” Finn said.

Finn said the bill of sale has not yet been signed for the jets and the acquisition is currently being reviewed by a third party. He added Canada has been given data about each of the airplanes in question and has been able to conduct their own examinations of each.

“We know exactly what shape they’re in,” Finn said. “We actually expanded that further and we have inspection points — very discreet ones — where we actually put the aircraft through a very detailed maintenance process.”

If Canada is offered an aircraft in better shape a few months later than one that can be acquired immediately, then it will choose to wait for the better model, Finn said.

Canada plans to fly the fleet of F-18 fighter jets until 2032, after which it plans to adopt the plane’s successor.

Australian F-18s Will Operate Out of Bagotville and Cold Lake

By: David Pugliese, Defence Watch

When Canada was looking to buy new Super Hornets from Boeing, the understanding was that they would be set up in one stand alone squadron, likely at CFB Cold Lake.

So how will the 18 used Australian F-18s be distributed? Will they be in one location?

Here is what a senior government official – speaking on background – had to say on that topic during the recent announcement:

“The force structure of the aircraft from Australia has not yet been finalized. We’re going to actually do that through the definition phase, but we anticipate right now that some of the aircraft will likely be employed in Cold Lake and some will be employed in Bagotville, probably with a similar ratio that we currently have across the fleet. So, but the final force structure is yet to be determined.”

But the government has since officially confirmed that Bagotville and Cold Lake will be the locations. Here is what it has stated:

“The aircraft will be employed at 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake. DND is currently reviewing infrastructure requirements to accommodate the additional aircraft. Any modifications are expected to be minimal as the supplemental jets are of similar age and design to the CF-18.”

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Moderator Note: 

Personally, I do not see why this is news. Even if they were only stationed at Cold Lake as originally thought...those are the only two CF-18 Wings in Canada. It would be a surprise if they set up a third Wing at a third base.