The Royal Canadian Air Force is moving two planes from Winnipeg, Man. to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to bridge the gap in Canada’s search and rescue coverage as a result of another delay in Canada’s troubled military procurement system.
The Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General. Al-Mainzinger outlined a plan to base two Hercules planes at Canadian Comox base after officials revealed that the Kingfisher’s new search and rescue planes would not be ready for another three years.
The delay, coupled with the January retirement of the last six ancient Buffalo military planes, has left the military without enough planes to respond properly to emergencies off Canada’s west coast.
While the redeployment of two of the four Hercules aircraft currently in Winnipeg will help bridge the gap until Kingfishers is ready, Mainzinger acknowledged that the move would affect the squadron’s other tasks.
These include providing air-to-air refueling to fighter jets tasked with protecting North American airspace from Russian bombers and other threats, as well as transporting troops and equipment across Canada and the world.
“As we sit today, obviously, they have an extra task,” Al Mainzinger said in an interview. “So that will reduce, logically, their ability to do other tasks.”
Growing gaps in fighter jets and frigates
The Canadian Armed Forces is facing a growing number of gaps as the military procurement system struggles to deliver new equipment before existing hardware is decommissioned or retired.
In addition to the Buffaloes, the military was forced to retire several old naval ships before they could be replaced. The watch is also ticking on its CF-18 fighter jets and Halifax-class frigates, both of which have expired.
The government receives about 10,000 disaster calls a year, and while most are processed by provinces or territories, with police and volunteers tasked with responding, the military responds to about 750 of the most risky calls.
An F-18 jet is pictured in Cold Lake, Alta. in 2019, the Canadian Armed Forces faces a growing number of gaps as the military procurement system struggles to deliver new equipment before existing hardware is decommissioned or retired. (Department of National Defense)
Military search and rescue personnel often use specialized aircraft and helicopters to parachute or descend to remote areas, such as the mountains, the High Arctic or one of Canada’s three oceans, to respond to plane crashes and sinking ships.
After more than 15 years of controversy and efforts to buy replacements for Buffalo aircraft and older Hercules models used to rescue Canadians each year, Canada announced in 2016 that it was buying 16 Kingfishers for $ 2.75 billion after taxes.
The deal with European aerospace giant Airbus initially said the plane would be operational by 2020. But technical problems and the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the schedule to 2022, while total costs rose to $ 2.9 billion.
Defense Department Chief of Staff Troy Crosby, the deputy deputy minister of material resources, attributed the latest delay to ongoing tests to ensure the plane was operating as expected. Airbus is also working on appropriate manuals for the aircraft, he added.
While Kingfisher is based on the Airbus C-295 military transport, used by more than a dozen countries around the world, the version that Canada buys includes about 30 modifications to the basic design.
Some of these modifications were needed to meet the mandatory requirements of the Air Force, Crosby said, while others are optional and were added by Airbus in an apparent effort to improve its offering.
Complex Business Order
Concerns about companies that promise too much and do not deliver enough have been raised by other military orders, most notably Cyclone naval helicopters, which are manufactured by Sikorsky.
While Cyclones is already in use on Halifax-class frigates after more than a decade of problems and delays, software problems and cracks in the queue have led to a number of incidents, including a fatal crash in April 2020.
Crosby defended the government’s process of evaluating bids for new military equipment, describing it as a “complex business” given the nature of the technology and hardware and how it should interact with other military systems.
“When we went to sign the contract in 2016, we had assessed the risk of meeting the schedule,” he added. “And we’ve put in place mitigation strategies to try to minimize that risk. Mitigation strategies have not been enough.
At the same time, he said the federal government was withholding part of the money owed to Airbus until the company fulfilled its promise. Crosby did not comment on whether any legal action is being considered or is underway.
Airbus spokeswoman Anabel Duchenne said in a statement on Wednesday that the company was “fully committed to improving the situation” and was working to ensure the least possible impact on Canadian search and rescue services.
While acknowledging that delaying Kingfishers will stretch the air force, Mainzinger added: “We can’t and won’t rush the plane … So it’s about doing this critical work to make sure the plane and the people are ready. . “‘
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