Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Exercise Pitch Black provides ‘unique’ experience for RCAF
By Flight Lieutenant Nick O’Connor
Befriending Australian wildlife was just one challenge thrown at the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during their debut at Exercise Pitch Black.
The RCAF’s 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron deployed a CC-130H Hercules aircraft to the exercise, providing air-to-air refuelling and transport capabilities to international partners. Based at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Tindal for the exercise, RCAF detachment commander Major Josh Leveque outlined his detachment’s mission.
“Our main goal was to integrate with international partners and conduct air-to-air refuelling for the F/A-18 Hornets and the Super Hornets,” he said, adding that operating in the Northern Territory air spaced provided unique training experiences for his team. “We get a lot of force generation, a lot of training, by getting them outside their normal air space. My team will return to Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg in Canada with a whole new perspective.”
Before conducting any mission at the exercise, Major Leveque said, he was forced to “negotiate” with some of the Northern Territory wildlife. “When we first got here, I was a little bit surprised when I went to the bathroom and there was a frog in my toilet,” he said. “I guess that’s just something you’ve got to get used to, and we’ve made friends with them.”
Swapping the Great White North for the Land Down Under offered a unique operating environment in the Northern Territory, one that the Canadian Hercules crew rarely operate in. “We have enjoyed winter time here as opposed to winter in Canada,” Major Leveque said. “It’s a good experience and good training, and I’d definitely like to come back in two years.”
Flight Lieutenant O’Connor is a member of the Royal Australian Air Force.
Canadian Army Buying UAVs from US Navy
The Government of Canada has announced that it is buying an existing unmanned aerial surveillance system, through a government-to-government contractual arrangement (U.S. Foreign Military Sales program) with the U.S. Government. The contract, which is valued at US$14.2 million, includes initial training.
“The Blackjack aerial surveillance system will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with modern, sophisticated technology that will give commanders the situational awareness they need to conduct missions effectively," said Dedfence Minister Sajjan. "We are pleased to work cooperatively with the U.S. government and the U.S. Navy to bring this leading-edge technology to Canada.”
The RQ-21A Blackjack is a small unmanned aircraft that will provide the Canadian Army with persistent, real-time intelligence through aerial surveillance and reconnaissance. It is a critical component of the Land Force Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance program. The system will be used for surveillance purposes only and will offer imagery and communication capabilities to help give soldiers an operational advantage in all environments. It will allow Army commanders to immediately identify threats, to take time sensitive decisions, and to respond quickly.
Canada is the first foreign military to acquire the system from the U.S. Navy. The system includes five unmanned aircraft, two ground control stations and one launch and recovery system. Each aircraft is capable of providing surveillance coverage of over 100 km for over 12 hours.
The Blackjack is produced by Boeing Insitu, based in Bingen, Washington. Once delivered to the Canadian Army in 2017, the system will be based out of Canadian Forces Base Gagetown and operated by the 4th Artillery Regiment (General Support).
•The Canadian Armed Forces requires rapid access to relevant information about the environment in civil or military situations, and only a family of unmanned aircraft vehicles can meet the diverse intelligence demands of a modern battlefield.
•The RQ-21A Blackjack is a runway independent system that can carry multiple payloads, which makes it a flexible, multi-mission platform that could be used on foreign operations, and that could be called upon by the government to support domestic operations such as a G8 Summit or even a natural disaster.
•The system was procured through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program with the U.S. Government.
“The Blackjack aerial surveillance system will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with modern, sophisticated technology that will give commanders the situational awareness they need to conduct missions effectively," said Dedfence Minister Sajjan. "We are pleased to work cooperatively with the U.S. government and the U.S. Navy to bring this leading-edge technology to Canada.”
The RQ-21A Blackjack is a small unmanned aircraft that will provide the Canadian Army with persistent, real-time intelligence through aerial surveillance and reconnaissance. It is a critical component of the Land Force Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance program. The system will be used for surveillance purposes only and will offer imagery and communication capabilities to help give soldiers an operational advantage in all environments. It will allow Army commanders to immediately identify threats, to take time sensitive decisions, and to respond quickly.
Canada is the first foreign military to acquire the system from the U.S. Navy. The system includes five unmanned aircraft, two ground control stations and one launch and recovery system. Each aircraft is capable of providing surveillance coverage of over 100 km for over 12 hours.
The Blackjack is produced by Boeing Insitu, based in Bingen, Washington. Once delivered to the Canadian Army in 2017, the system will be based out of Canadian Forces Base Gagetown and operated by the 4th Artillery Regiment (General Support).
•The Canadian Armed Forces requires rapid access to relevant information about the environment in civil or military situations, and only a family of unmanned aircraft vehicles can meet the diverse intelligence demands of a modern battlefield.
•The RQ-21A Blackjack is a runway independent system that can carry multiple payloads, which makes it a flexible, multi-mission platform that could be used on foreign operations, and that could be called upon by the government to support domestic operations such as a G8 Summit or even a natural disaster.
•The system was procured through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program with the U.S. Government.
UN Africa Mission will be Complex and Dangerous - More So than Afghanistan
By: Matthew Fisher, National Post
The Liberal government has been silent about where in Africa Canada’s soldiers and a cadre of diplomats, aid workers and police officers will be deployed. None of the potential United Nations missions are safe. All are complex. None come with an exit strategy.
The strongly preferred choice of the Canadian Forces is Mali, which is about the same size as Manitoba and Saskatchewan together and has about seven times as many people. South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have also been mooted, are believed by Canadian Joint Operations Command to present even greater perils and offer less chance of a positive outcome.
Having been with Canadian peacekeepers in Somalia, Eritrea and Rwanda, I can categorically state that African missions are in a league of their own for complexity and danger. Much has been made recently about the risks that will soon face Canadian troops in Africa, and whether they have enough training in the subtleties of peacekeeping and peacemaking.
This is all to the good, but equal attention should be paid to the civilians who will be deployed as part of the whole-of-government approach developed by the Harper government in Afghanistan and which will be repeated, perhaps on a larger scale, in Africa.
Related
Canadian regular forces to train troops in Niger as Liberals seek to take part in more UN peace operations
Chris Selley: Are we really any good at peacekeeping?
John Ivison: Prudence demands that we see our way out of African peacekeeping mission before venturing in
Matthew Fisher: Truck attack in France ups the ante for Canada ’s peacekeeping mission in Mali
Like soldiering, combat diplomacy requires people who are brave and highly adaptive. Our diplomats and aid specialists in Afghanistan quickly discovered that not only were they totally reliant on the troops for their safety, but the soldiers often had more useful skills — military engineers, military civil affairs specialists and military doctors, nurses and medics were better equipped to oversee the building of schools and deliver medical outreach projects in hostile territory than were civilians.
This made for a complicated relationship at times, not helped by the fact that what is now called Global Affairs tended to send Brahmins with Ivy League educations off to war. Still, there is a small corps of diplomats still in harness such as Ben Rowswell, Canada’s ambassador to Venezuela, and James Christoff, who was until very recently our number two in Kenya, who excelled in Kandahar and whose experience working cooperatively with the army would benefit Canada greatly in Africa.
The most informed guesses provided to me by the military suggest that it will take until at least next March or April to get Canadian troops and gear into the field. If the mission is to Mali, one place the Canadians could be based at or near is Timbuktu, where French troops clashed with fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in the spring of 2013. The average daytime temperature in April and May at the fabled crossroads for Saharan camel caravans will be above 40 C, and never drops below 30 C the rest of the year. It is only slightly cooler elsewhere in the country.
Mali is ranked 179th in the UN Human Development Index. That is eight places behind Afghanistan. The average lifespan in Mali is nearly 30 years less than it is in Canada. Half the population gets by on less than one dollar a day.
Meningitis is the biggest killer, followed by its frequent partner, malaria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Cholera, hepatitis, rabies, tuberculosis, typhoid, yellow fever and the Zika virus are all present. Polio has again become a serious concern.
So even before the fluid security situation is considered, pestilence and hot weather may make Africa more of a challenge for the Canadians than Afghanistan, with its fairly predictable summer fighting seasons.
Before Canada’s mission to Kandahar in 2006, then-defence minister Bill Graham and Gen. Rick Hillier embarked on a cross-country tour to inform Canadians about how dangerous it would be. That process is underway again, with initial warnings from defence minister Harjit Sajjan and Canada’s new ambassador to the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, that what Canada is about to undertake in Africa will be peacemaking, not Pearson-style peacekeeping, and that the prospect of combat and casualties is very real.
If the mission is to Mali, the 600 Canadians would join 15,000 other peacekeepers in a country where there has been little peace to keep. More than 100 blue helmets have died in terrorist attacks there during the past 40 months.
Among the insurgents in Mali is a relatively new group, the Macina Liberation Front, which specifically targets UN and French troops. The MLF claims loyalty to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb but resembles Boko Haram, which is affiliated with ISIL and has carried out terrorist attacks and hundreds of kidnappings in an arc that cuts across northern Nigeria into Chad and Niger.
Whether it is Mali or somewhere nearby, Canada’s soldiers and civilians must pull together in an environment that will be more unpleasant and potentially far more forbidding than Afghanistan.
The Liberal government has been silent about where in Africa Canada’s soldiers and a cadre of diplomats, aid workers and police officers will be deployed. None of the potential United Nations missions are safe. All are complex. None come with an exit strategy.
The strongly preferred choice of the Canadian Forces is Mali, which is about the same size as Manitoba and Saskatchewan together and has about seven times as many people. South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have also been mooted, are believed by Canadian Joint Operations Command to present even greater perils and offer less chance of a positive outcome.
Having been with Canadian peacekeepers in Somalia, Eritrea and Rwanda, I can categorically state that African missions are in a league of their own for complexity and danger. Much has been made recently about the risks that will soon face Canadian troops in Africa, and whether they have enough training in the subtleties of peacekeeping and peacemaking.
This is all to the good, but equal attention should be paid to the civilians who will be deployed as part of the whole-of-government approach developed by the Harper government in Afghanistan and which will be repeated, perhaps on a larger scale, in Africa.
Related
Canadian regular forces to train troops in Niger as Liberals seek to take part in more UN peace operations
Chris Selley: Are we really any good at peacekeeping?
John Ivison: Prudence demands that we see our way out of African peacekeeping mission before venturing in
Matthew Fisher: Truck attack in France ups the ante for Canada ’s peacekeeping mission in Mali
Like soldiering, combat diplomacy requires people who are brave and highly adaptive. Our diplomats and aid specialists in Afghanistan quickly discovered that not only were they totally reliant on the troops for their safety, but the soldiers often had more useful skills — military engineers, military civil affairs specialists and military doctors, nurses and medics were better equipped to oversee the building of schools and deliver medical outreach projects in hostile territory than were civilians.
This made for a complicated relationship at times, not helped by the fact that what is now called Global Affairs tended to send Brahmins with Ivy League educations off to war. Still, there is a small corps of diplomats still in harness such as Ben Rowswell, Canada’s ambassador to Venezuela, and James Christoff, who was until very recently our number two in Kenya, who excelled in Kandahar and whose experience working cooperatively with the army would benefit Canada greatly in Africa.
The most informed guesses provided to me by the military suggest that it will take until at least next March or April to get Canadian troops and gear into the field. If the mission is to Mali, one place the Canadians could be based at or near is Timbuktu, where French troops clashed with fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in the spring of 2013. The average daytime temperature in April and May at the fabled crossroads for Saharan camel caravans will be above 40 C, and never drops below 30 C the rest of the year. It is only slightly cooler elsewhere in the country.
Mali is ranked 179th in the UN Human Development Index. That is eight places behind Afghanistan. The average lifespan in Mali is nearly 30 years less than it is in Canada. Half the population gets by on less than one dollar a day.
Meningitis is the biggest killer, followed by its frequent partner, malaria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Cholera, hepatitis, rabies, tuberculosis, typhoid, yellow fever and the Zika virus are all present. Polio has again become a serious concern.
So even before the fluid security situation is considered, pestilence and hot weather may make Africa more of a challenge for the Canadians than Afghanistan, with its fairly predictable summer fighting seasons.
Before Canada’s mission to Kandahar in 2006, then-defence minister Bill Graham and Gen. Rick Hillier embarked on a cross-country tour to inform Canadians about how dangerous it would be. That process is underway again, with initial warnings from defence minister Harjit Sajjan and Canada’s new ambassador to the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, that what Canada is about to undertake in Africa will be peacemaking, not Pearson-style peacekeeping, and that the prospect of combat and casualties is very real.
If the mission is to Mali, the 600 Canadians would join 15,000 other peacekeepers in a country where there has been little peace to keep. More than 100 blue helmets have died in terrorist attacks there during the past 40 months.
Among the insurgents in Mali is a relatively new group, the Macina Liberation Front, which specifically targets UN and French troops. The MLF claims loyalty to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb but resembles Boko Haram, which is affiliated with ISIL and has carried out terrorist attacks and hundreds of kidnappings in an arc that cuts across northern Nigeria into Chad and Niger.
Whether it is Mali or somewhere nearby, Canada’s soldiers and civilians must pull together in an environment that will be more unpleasant and potentially far more forbidding than Afghanistan.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
F-35 exit strategy: Canada could pay about $313M to pull out of jet program
By: David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen
Canada could withdraw from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program on short notice by paying a little more than $300 million U.S., according to an analysis prepared by the defence department soon after the Liberals won the federal election.
The government could leave after only 90 days’ notice, although it would still need to pay the remaining fees the previous Conservative government committed to the F-35 program, according to the Department of National Defence documents obtained by Postmedia.
The analysis was produced four days after the election.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power, pledging the Liberals would not buy the F-35, an aircraft he said was unnecessary for Canada’s needs and too expensive.
Although a Liberal government originally signed on to a research and development program for the plane, the Conservatives significantly expanded that commitment.
In 2006, Canada agreed to participate as a partner at a cost of US$551 million, according to the DND analysis. That did not commit the government to buying the aircraft, although it provided inside data about the project and a chance for domestic aerospace firms to bid on F-35 work.
“Canada has not signed a contract and can pull out by providing a 90-day written notification to other participating nations,” the analysis prepared for Deputy Minister John Forster pointed out.
“Canada’s liability would be no greater than US$346.7 million” – the difference between what it had already contributed and what was remaining of the original US$551 million commitment.
Since the analysis was produced, the Liberal government has paid another US$33 million.
The analysis noted Ottawa had also signed a separate memorandum of understanding with F-35 builder Lockheed Martin.
Under that commitment, Lockheed Martin provided F-35 work to Canadian firms on the understanding the Canadian government would eventually buy 65 of the jets.
If Canada decided not to proceed with the purchase, Lockheed Martin would not be obliged to employ domestic firms, the DND analysis noted.
“There is a risk that some contacts would not be renewed,” it added.
The Liberal government is expected to decide within months how to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 aircraft.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has talked about a fair and open competition for a new fighter jet. Despite Trudeau’s pledge that Canada will not buy the F-35, Lockheed Martin, with other aircraft firms, recently submitted information about their planes to the government.
“It looks like we’re being included so we look forward to competing on that basis,” Jack Crisler, one of Lockheed Martin’s senior F35 officials, recently told Postmedia.
The stealth fighter became a political nightmare for the Conservative government after it agreed to buy the planes. The F-35 has been plagued with technology problems and U.S. lawmakers have complained about its cost.
In 2012, Auditor General Michael Ferguson issued a report that concluded Canadian defence officials withheld key information from Parliament about the proposed purchase, underestimated costs and did not follow proper procurement rules.
In June, Lockheed Martin almost saw its hopes of selling planes to Canada evaporate. Ottawa was close to moving on an interim purchase of Super Hornet jets from Boeing and Trudeau claimed the F-35 “does not work and is far from working.”
In response, Lockheed Martin warned Canadian companies who had F-35 contracts would suffer. After that, plans for a Super Hornet interim deal seemed to disappear.
The U.S. Air Force says the F-35 is combat ready although critics say much work still needs to be done on the aircraft. Two F-35s recently visited Canada for the first time at the airshow in Abbotsford, B.C.
© Copyright (c) National Post
Friday, August 19, 2016
F/A-18 & F-35 Come Face to Face in Canada
By: David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen
Last weekend the unicorn finally came to Canada.
Sitting on the tarmac at the Abbotsford Air Show, the F-35 stealth fighter made its first appearance in this country. Recently declared combat-ready by the U.S. Air Force — though critics point out much more work needs to be done on the jet — officials with its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, were jokingly referring to it by the name of the mythical beast, because it’s been talked about here so much and seen not at all.
 |
| An F-35A fighter aircraft during a flypast at the Abbotsford International Airshow on Aug. 11. “It’s hard to find bad news” about the plane, said pilot Lt.-Col. Curtis Pitts. “It’s all good news.” Both Lockheed and Boeing are promoting their longtime presence in Canada as part of their pitch. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS |
And the two main contenders in that battle — Boeing with its Super Hornet and Lockheed with the F-35 — came face-to-face in Abbotsford.
“There’s no better vehicle to educate the public than to allow them to see the actual aircraft,” said Jack Crisler, one of Lockheed Martin’s top F-35 officials. “It’s here. It’s real.”
The Liberal government is expected to decide within months how it wants to proceed on replacing Canada’s aging fleet of CF-18 fighters.
Justin Trudeau came to power last fall pledging that a Liberal government wouldn’t buy the F-35, an aircraft he said was too expensive and unnecessary given Canada’s needs.
That should have been the kiss of death for Lockheed Martin. But Crisler said he’s feeling good these days about how Canada is moving ahead on the fighter jet file. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has talked about holding a fair and open competition. Lockheed Martin, along with other aircraft firms, recently submitted information to the government about their planes, and met Monday with federal officials.
“It looks like we’re being included, so we look forward to competing on that basis,” Crisler said.
“I’m certainly more optimistic than I was in December 2015.”
The controversial stealth fighter became a political nightmare for the Harper government after it pledged to buy 65 of the planes, which were plagued by technology problems and complaints from U.S. lawmakers about their cost.
Auditor General Michael Ferguson found that Canadian defence officials withheld key information from parliament about the proposed purchase, underestimated the costs of the jets and didn’t follow proper procurement rules.
In June, Lockheed Martin almost saw its hopes of selling planes to Canada disappear completely. The Liberal government was close to moving on an interim purchase of Super Hornets and Trudeau claimed the F-35 “does not work and is far from working.”
That prompted Lockheed Martin to warn that Canadian companies who had contracts on the F-35 would suffer. Plans for a Super Hornet interim deal seemed to disappear.
As for Trudeau’s F-35 comment, Crisler has a diplomatic response: “The evidence is not consistent with a statement like that. If you’re not living it day-to-day, you might not see that.” At the Boeing tent at the Abbotsford air show, officials smiled while pointing out the F-35 wasn’t going to be showcased in a flight demonstration that weekend. In contrast, their Super Hornets roared back and forth in front of the crowds on both days of the show.
“This is a remarkable event where we can show what our aircraft are capable of,” said top Boeing official Roberto Valla.
A Boeing representative providing commentary for the demonstrations introduced the Super Hornet as a “fifth generation stealth fighter” — a dig at Lockheed, which also bills the F-35 as such.
Boeing officials were happy to outline their sales pitch: their aircraft is combat proven, less expensive than the F-35 and will be operating with the U.S. military until at least 2040.
During a demonstration in which a Postmedia reporter flew in one of the planes, Boeing pilot Ty Frautschi claimed the Super Hornet’s capabilities are suited to both combat and Arctic patrols; its two engines provide added safety for northern flights. The jet is designed to take the pounding from short landings on aircraft carriers, he said, which would also help it handle the short runways at the Canadian military’s forward operating locations in the Arctic.
Both Lockheed and Boeing are promoting their longtime presence in Canada as part of their pitch. By September, Crisler said, Canadian firms will have been awarded US$1 billion worth of work on the F-35.
For its part, in conjunction with the air show, Boeing announced the opening of a new software lab in Vancouver, including 50 new jobs.
Crowds gathered to gawk and take photos of the planes, though the two F-35s didn’t fly. The U.S. Air Force pilots that flew them up from Utah were under strict rules not to discuss the Canadian situation.
Instead, they chatted about the aircraft’s capabilities. F-35 pilot Lt.-Col. Curtis Pitts highlighted the plane’s powerful radar and sensors, and the stealth technology that provides it with increased survivability. If necessary, Pitts said, he’d be ready to go to war in the F-35 today. “It’s hard to find bad news” about the plane, said Pitts. “It’s all good news.”
In the end, though, the Canadian Forces will have bad news for one of its suitors.
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