Sajjan's Africa trip could be Logistics Planning for Mali Mission

By: Amanda Connolly, iPolitics

Senegal billed as key location to support for Mali operation

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s trip to Mali and Senegal next week could be a sign the government is trying to nail down logistics for a possible peacekeeping mission in Mali, two peace operation experts suggest.

“I think there’s two important components. One is that Senegal is a major contributor to the UN mission in Mali,” said Walter Dorn, a professor at the Royal Military College who focuses on peace operations and who has worked worked as an advisor with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

“Secondly, Senegal is a major route for supply, it’s a major logistics component for support of a mission in Mali.”

Sajjan has said Canadian troops will take part in a UN peace support mission in Africa. He’s said he is making 600 troops and 150 military police available to the UN, but has yet to announce where Canadian troops will go.

The speculation in defence and foreign policy circles has focused largely on three locations: Mali, where a UN mission works in conjunction with a broader French counterterrorism operation to support a peace process; and the Central African Republic or the Democratic Republic of Congo — both engaged in bloody and long-standing civil wars.

iPolitics has confirmed the government is not looking at a mission in South Sudan, which is sometimes mentioned in speculation.

The Mali mission offers what some experts have described as a potential for both risk and reward. The mission there is currently the UN’s most deadly, having claimed the lives of 69 peacekeepers since it began in 2013.

However, it also faces specific gaps that match Canadian capabilities and the skill set the Canadian Forces developed during their nine-year deployment to Afghanistan: a shortage of expertise in dealing with improvised explosive devices and insurgent populations, and a looming, critical shortage of Chinook transport and Apache — or possibly Griffon — troop support helicopters.

The Dutch, citing operational strain, are pulling out their three helicopter units, leaving the mission with only two, which UN officials say is not nearly enough.

If the government is eyeing a possible mission to Mali, ensuring it has a reliable stream of supplies and a way of getting its gear into the country will be critical.

“If you wanted to have a relatively secure location to support a Canadian operation in Mali, Senegal fits the bill,” said Lewis MacKenzie, a retired major general with the Canadian Forces who has served on nine UN peace operations and led the mission in the Balkans in 1992.

Dorn and Mackenzie both cite the importance to any Mali mission of Senegal’s port on the Atlantic, its airfield and its history of playing a significant role as a contributor of troops to UN peace operations.

“It’s got a port and through Senegal you can get to Bamako … so you can see that would be a way to bring larger items by ship,” said Dorn. “That would make a lot of sense.”

Announced Tuesday evening, Sajjan’s office said his trip next week to Mali and Senegal will be aimed at gathering facts on the ground and isn’t necessarily an indication of a decision to deploy troops to either country.

It also comes on the heels of a “fact-finding” trip this summer to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that saw Sajjan meet with NGOs, defence counterparts and other organizations involved in peace support operations.

“As with the last trip, I wouldn’t look too much into the countries he is visiting an an indication of a potential deployment,” said Jordan Owens, the minister’s press secretary. “This trip to West Africa will build upon his understanding of the ‘ground truth’ as Canada continues to investigate how we can contribute to international peace and security with a whole-of-government approach.”

When asked specifically whether the minister would be looking at possible logistical support for any future mission, Owens said that is something that the military — not the minister — would take care of and that this trip is more similar to the five-country trip he took this summer.

“That is more of a military planning issue, which [Sajjan] would leave up to the pros in the [Canadian Armed Forces], she said.

“The purpose of the minister’s trip is to get a better understanding of the political situation on the ground and see first-hand how Canada could contribute to peace support efforts on the continent. The East Africa trip was helpful in that way, and he would like to get a similar understanding of the situation in West Africa.”

RCN sent in to investigate object found off Haida Gwaii - Possible Lost Cold War Nuclear Weapon

By: George Baker, Andrew Kurjata, CBC News

The Canadian navy is on its way to Haida Gwaii to find out if a diver has discovered "the lost nuke" — a Mark IV bomb that went missing after an American bomber crashed off B.C.'s north coast in the early days of the Cold War.

Sean Smyrichinsky found the mystery object during a recent diving trip near Banks Island.
My god, I found a UFO. I found the strangest thing I'd ever seen!- Sean Smyrichinsky

"I got a little far from my boat and I found something that I'd never ever seen before," he recalled. "It resembled, like, a bagel cut in half, and then around the bagel these bolts molded into it."

When he got back to the ship he tried to describe the object to his crew.

"I came out from the dive and I came up and I started telling my crew 'my god, I found a UFO. I found the strangest thing I'd ever seen!'"

Smyrichinsky started asking around and was told the story of Convair B-36B, a US Air Force bomber that crashed off B.C.'s north coast in 1950.

In a book published earlier this year, historian Dirk Septer traces the story of that flight, summarizing it in publicity documents as a Cold War drama:

"Just before midnight on February 13, 1950, three engines of a US Air Force B-36 intercontinental bomber caught fire over Canada's northwest coast. The crew jumped, and the plane ditched somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Almost four years later, the wreck of the bomber was found accidentally in a remote location in the coastal mountains of British Columbia, three hours' flying time in the opposite direction of where it was supposed to have crashed.

"After years of silence, the United States finally admitted to losing its very first nuclear bomb; the incident was its first Broken Arrow, the code name for accidents involving nuclear weapons. But was the bomb dropped and exploded over the Inside Passage, or was it blown up at the aircraft's resting place in the mountains?"

The lost bomb was a Mark IV.

As soon as Smyrichinsky looked it up on Google Images, he recognized it as the object he had found.

"It was a piece that looked very much like what I saw," he said. "The plane that was carrying the bomb, it crashed 50 miles south of where I found that object."

"What else could it possibly be? I was thinking UFO, but probably not a UFO, right?"

Accordingt to the Navy, the Bomb is probably not nuclear.

Major Steve Netta of the Canadian Armed Forces confirmed the location of Snyrichinsky's find does coincide with the site of the 1950 crash.

Netta also said records indicate the lost bomb was a dummy capsule and so there is little risk of the object being a nuclear weapon.

"Nonetheless we do want to be sure and we do want to investigate it further," he said.

A Canadian navy ship has been deployed to investigate and should arrive in Haida Gwaii shortly. 

The return of "RCAF" to the RCAF's Aircraft is on its way

The RCAF’s new livery is shown on this leased King Air 350, which operates out of 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario. It is the first RCAF aircraft to receive the new paint scheme. PHOTO: Corporal Rod Doucet

By: RCAF Public Affairs

In the coming months, you might notice that Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft look a little different.

In 2011, to recognize Canada’s military heritage, the historic names of Canada’s three military services were restored: the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the Canadian Army (CA) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Under these designations, Canadians emerged victorious from the Second World War and later defended Canadian interests throughout the Cold War and the Korean War.

The RCAF received its new insignia in 2013, followed by changes to members’ uniforms and the redesignation of the rank private as “aviator”. Now, the next step in the restoration process is to bring RCAF aircraft livery – that is, aircraft paint scheme – in line with the earlier changes.

The new aircraft livery includes the bilingual designation “RCAF” and “ARC” (for Aviation royale canadienne) on either side of an updated roundel.

“It’s important for the Air Force that we bring our aircraft in line with our new insignia,” said Lieutenant-General Mike Hood, the commander of the RCAF, “but we’ll do it in a way that minimizes any additional cost and doesn’t take an operational aircraft out of service unnecessarily. In all, we expect the changes will take the next four to five years.”

Aircraft will receive their new livery when they are already undergoing scheduled routine maintenance, which includes any necessary repainting. This is done every few years to correct the effects of usage and exposure to the elements. As of the first of November, one aircraft – the King Air B200, located at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario – has been painted in the new livery.

To see how these changes are coming along, be sure to check out the RCAF’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, where photos of the new livery will be posted when the aircraft are repainted in the new livery.

The new RCAF livery will replace the livery "Candian Forces" shown under the wing of a CC-130J Hercules on RCAF aircraft. The new paint scheme will be added to the aircraft when they undergo regularly scheduled repainting to correct the effects of usage and weather. PHOTO: Corporal Darcy Lefebvre

24 RCAF CF-18s in California for Ex. PUMA STRIKE

By: Daniel Maillet, CAF Dispatch Author

This morning Defence Watch's David Pugliese is reporting that a large number of the RCAF's CF-18 fleet is down in California to take part in the U.S. military exercise PUMA STRIKE. 

U.S. Department of Defense web page notes that 24 RCAF CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft are now at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California for the exercise. There has been no official statement from the RCAF or the CAF about the exercise. David Pugliese however, did confirm the 24 number with DND. 

A CF-188 Hornet takes off for a mission during Exercise PUMA STRIKE at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, on March 3, 2016. PHOTO: CK07-2016-0154-137, Corporal Andre Maillet

Start in Senegal for new "peace and stabilization" operation

Globe and Mail Editorial 

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan continues to be very discreet about his plans to give content to Justin Trudeau’s 2015 election pledge to revive Canada peacekeeping – or rather, in contemporary terms, to “peace and stabilization operations.” The straightforward Pearsonian era of supervising an agreed-upon ceasefire lines is long past.

On a trip this week, Mr. Sajjan is going to Mali and Senegal. The federal government has already been considering Mali, the Central African Republic and the not so very Democratic Republic of the Congo. The government insists that any visit to a particular country does not signify an intention to undertake a military mission there.

But if a military mission in Africa there must be, Senegal may be a good way to start. Though hardly a utopia, it is much more stable than any other country that has hitherto been mentioned in this context. The prevalence of peaceable Sufism there does not provide much ripe ground for radical jihadism.

Nonetheless, there have been incursions into Senegal by Islamic extremists from time to time, unsuccessful so far, from neighbouring Mauritanian and Malian militias. (A Christian and animist uprising in Senegal ended with a unilateral ceasefire in 2014.)

Hypothetically, in any case, it’s worth looking at what a Canadian military contingent of 600 troops and 150 military police in Senegal (the number that Canada is thinking of) or some other African country might find itself dealing with.

On its face, a Canadian the new peacekeeping or “peace security operations” contribution in Senegal might be more like an allied presence, to share in the continuing defence of Senegal – perhaps a little like the Canadian forces in Germany in NATO before the end of the Cold War.

A counterinsurgency in a chaotic, arid country such as Mali or Mauritania would be outside the experience of most members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Mr. Sajjan has prudently said, “We need to go into this eyes wide open. So based on that, I have not set a deadline,” specifically, not the end of 2016, “as I want to make sure that we do all the necessary work, so that we can have [a] meaningful impact.”

Such a moderate initial objective may be a good start.