Un nouveau logiciel montréalais au cœur des avions

On the same subject

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  December 19, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Canada’s fighter jets up to peacetime standard in Romania

  By Charlie Pinkerton Canada's aging fighter jets remain fit for a peacetime role, says the commander of Canada's air-policing mission in the Black Sea region. Five of Canada's CF-18 fighter jets have been deployed to Romania since late August as part of the NATO deterrence mission in the region. Lt.-Col. Tim Woods has flown amid the 135 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, which he has commanded for four months. “In a peacetime air-policing role, we're well-equipped (with the CF-18),” Woods said. Canada's CF-18s are more than 30 years old and were originally meant to be replaced after two decades. National Defence now plans to buy 25 used jets from Australia to supplement its fleet until its yet-to-be-selected next generation of fighter jets is fully integrated in the early 2030s. The plan has been harshly criticized by the government's opposition, which was validated by a disparaging report by Canada's auditor general last month. Canada's jets were flown in Romania to intercept a lone Russian SU-27 Flanker aircraft flying in NATO airspace on Oct. 18. Woods says he piloted one of the two jets that performed the interception. “From our standpoint, it was a professional interaction,” Woods said. “We flew up alongside him. I'm looking as his airplane, trying to get all the information I need about his airplane, and he's probably doing the same with us. “I waved to him, he waved to me, he gave me a thumbs-up, I gave him a thumbs-up. He took a photo of our aircraft with a hand-held camera, and then we basically left him on the way after that.” Of the approximately 300 missions Canada's Air Task Force has flown during its current deployment in Romania, that's been the only interaction it's had with Russian forces. For a similar deployment last year, Canada only sent four CF-18s to Romania. This year, Canada sent a fifth to be used in case another jet had to be repaired or have maintenance done. It's becoming more difficult to repair Canada's aging jets because of the shrinking availability of parts, Woods said. “That does become a challenge, but that's what we have to work with.” The CF-18s require 24 hours of maintenance for each hour the jets are flown, compared to 21 hours required in 2014. Because the Romanian mission is ongoing, information about it is classified. Therefore, Woods wouldn't disclose details about the frequency of repairs made to Canada's jets there. But he did say Canada's fifth jet “came in very handy on this mission.” Asked about the capability of Canada's fleet in future, Woods said he agrees with the government's assessment. Canada's Air Task Force will return from Romania in January. While the Canadian Armed Forces haven't announced it, Woods said he expects Canada to return a similar-sized force to the NATO mission next year for the same duration. Canada has provided troops and jets to the mission periodically since 2014. A previous version of this story mistakenly referred to Lt.-Col. Tim Woods as Tim Cook. iPolitics regrets the error. https://ipolitics.ca/2018/12/18/canadas-fighter-jets-up-to-peacetime-standard-in-romania/

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  May 16, 2023 | Local, Aerospace

  New surveillance aircraft for Canadian special forces to start arriving later this year

  The Beechcraft King Air planes will be outfitted with sensors and equipment to intercept cellphone and other electronic transmissions.

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  December 20, 2019 | Local, Other Defence

  Canadian Forces had valuable ‘insights’ in Afghanistan, defence minister says following damning U.S. report

  By Charlie Pinkerton. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canadian Forces deployed to Afghanistan contributed useful insights to American forces, whose past military operations in the country have drawn new scrutiny following The Washington Post's publication of the so-called Afghanistan Papers. The documents obtained and published by the Post are the product of hundreds of interviews carried out by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR). SIGAR was mandated to complete a series of reports exploring the effectiveness of its nearly two-decade, close to trillion-dollar mission that it began as a retaliation against al-Qaeda for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The documents fought for in court by the Post include notes, transcripts and audio recordings that the subjects had been promised would not be made public by the government. They provide a thorough look at the frustrations and concerns of top U.S. brass and a lack of understanding of the conflict by the American military and its government. One of the revelations of the Afghanistan Papers is the that as the conflict continued, top American military officials considered it an unwinnable conflict. Sajjan completed three Afghanistan tours, where he worked in intelligence before working directly with top American troops as an adviser. In giving his take on how the Canadian perspective compared to that of the Americans during the mission, Sajjan said the Canadian Armed Forces had a better understanding of the realities of the conflict than its closest allies. READ MORE: A year-end Q&A with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan “I would say the insights the Canadians provided were actually very useful. That's one point that I'm trying to get across here, and I appreciate the Americans coming out and talking about this now,” Sajjan said. “Canadians were providing a very good perspective, very early on, to have a much more, I would say, accurate account of what is happening,” One passage the Post highlighted from the thousands of pages of documents to underscore the discontent with the conflict by U.S. officials was an interview with Douglas Lute, a former top army general who became an adviser on the Afghan war in the White House. “We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn't know what we were doing,” Lute said. “What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.” Sajjan said good decisions were made only with an “accurate” and “good understanding” of the Afghanistan conflict. From 2001 to 2014, 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan. There were 158 Canadian soldiers killed. On top of its military effort, Canada has provided more than $3 billion in international assistance to Afghanistan since 2001. In talking about Canada's operations in Afghanistan, Sajjan also defended well-known Canadian-led aspects of the mission, such as the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT, but known colloquially as omelette) and its stabilization-focused whole-of-government approach to the conflict. “What I'm trying to say here is that the work that Canada did there was highly valued and I appreciate other allies coming out with different perspectives,” Sajjan said. https://ipolitics.ca/2019/12/19/canadian-forces-had-valuable-insights-in-afghanistan-defence-minister-says-following-damning-u-s-report/