When politics gets in the way, our military often suffers. One only must be reminded of the cancellation of the Mulroney Government purchase of 50 Cormorant EH-101 helicopters made in 1992 that was cancelled the following year with $470 million in penalties by the Chretien government. It wasn’t until 2010 that Sikorsky under a new contract delivered the first Cyclone aircraft. The first six did not meet the requirements of the contract.
We sent our forces to Afghanistan and discovered to our chagrin that we did not have the heavy lift capacity of the helicopters to move our troops and supplies around the rugged country. We were bumming rides with other NATO countries. In 2008 Canada purchased six used Chinook Model D helicopters from the US army. Only later did we discover that in 2006 that Canada had planned to purchase 16 units but that was reduced to 15 when the final contract was awarded in 2009.
Similarly, our troops in Afghanistan discovered they required battle tanks, but Canada had already phased that armour out. Today we have German made Leopard tanks that Hungary has requested that we deliver to them in their war with Russia.
With the recent announcement that Canada would finally purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter aircraft, Canada completed the cycle of delay. Canada joined consortium of nations in 1997 to create and fund the development of this new stealth aircraft that would replace the aging CF-18 fighter aircraft that the air force was using and was delaying in phasing it out. It only took 25 years to make the decision and more than one round of competition and evaluation to make the choice. In the meantime, the cost of the units rose.
Our navy is in similar distress. Canada no longer has the ships to sustain a task force and must rely on other nations for refuelling and delivering supplies. The delay in delivery of new ships will hurt our ability to patrol the Arctic waters that are open more each year. The last of our submarines will be put into retirement in 2027. A senate paper in 2017 recommended that the Navy acquire 12 Victoria Class submarines with added under ice capabilities to patrol Arctic waters. It was rejected.
Sometimes the Canadian government can move with speed, not necessarily for our services, but for our friends. It took only a few weeks for Canada to decide to purchase an advanced air defence system for $430 million and send it to Ukraine for their use. Since 2017 Canada has been studying a similar system for Canada troops who are now discovering how important such systems are in the Ukraine conflict. Canadian troops in Latvia would like to have such a system to protect them. Alas, Canada hasn’t been able to make that decision for Canadian forces in potentially harms way.
Changes on the battlefield are producing new technologies and Canada will have to spend aggressively to catch up. Our forces can’t be expected to wait on politics to make decisions in their best interests.
Former Publisher
Fort Frances Times
