STEPHEN THORNE/CP PHOTO - Bombardier Steve Malley of Granby, Que., conducts tests on one of the Canadian Force’s unmanned aerial vehicles in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2003.
Posted on 07/04/2006 10:57:20 AM PDT by NorthOf45
Drones on military wish list
Armed forces seek to add to Ottawa's $17B spending spree unveiled last week
Unmanned `eyes in the sky' would monitor oceans here, hot spots abroad
New chief of army calls for better fighting gear, protection for troops
The Toronto Star
By Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau
July 4, 2006
Canada's air force hopes to buy a fleet of sophisticated aerial drones — unmanned "eyes in the sky" — to patrol Canadian territory and waters as well as spy on enemy troops in hot spots like Afghanistan, a top general says.
Lt.-Gen. Steve Lucas, the head of the air force, said he hopes the purchasing process for 18 drones, valued at $500 million, will begin this fall.
As well, the air force hopes to finally move on the long-delayed purchase of 19 new search-and-rescue aircraft for an estimated $2 billion to replace the old Hercules planes now doing the task, he said.
Lucas's comments came on the heels of last week's announcements of $17 billion in new spending to boost Canada's military. The spending includes:
$8.3 billion to buy and maintain four Boeing C-17 Globemaster strategic lift cargo jets or similar aircraft to replace Canada's Antonovs, plus the smaller tactical lift aircraft to replace our aging Hercules transports.
$2.9 billion for three new supply ships.
$4.7 billion for 16 heavy Chinook-type helicopters.
$1.2 billion for 2,300 trucks.
And that's far from the end of the military's wish list.
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the new head of the army, said he wants to tweak capabilities to cope with evolving conflicts that demand a mix of guerrilla fighting and development work.
"I think what we're doing in places like Afghanistan will be our stock-in-trade for a good many years," Leslie told the Star, describing the mission as "dangerous and complicated."
With that in mind, he and his colleagues are now talking with the government about the next investments to enable troops to fight more effectively. His wish list includes the next generation of night vision goggles, new communications gear, improved protection for the troops and new technology to combat rocket propelled grenades, which have killed and wounded soldiers in Afghanistan.
As the explosive power of roadside and suicide bombers increases, "we've got to focus more on protecting our young folks," Leslie said.
"That means we're going to have to wrap them in more armour."
Leslie's also looking at a few shake-ups with the current army — and that could include reversing a decision to mothball Canada's fleet of Leopard tanks.
It's said that Leslie is no fan of the mobile gun system — an armoured vehicle equipped with a 105-mm gun that critics say would leave troops vulnerable to attack.
Leslie also envisages a "smarter" battle force, using battlefield sensors and spy planes to detect enemies.
The purchase of unmanned aerial drones marks a new capability for the Canadian forces.
The new drones are certain to be bigger and better performers than the 2.7-metre-long Sperwer vehicles now being used in Afghanistan to help Canadian commanders keep track of insurgents.
While those drones had a spotty record during their first deployment with Canadian troops in Kabul, Lucas says improved training and experience have produced a better record so far in Kandahar.
Troops in Afghanistan say even the distinctive drone of the vehicles passing overhead — they fly for up to 150 kilometres at speeds of more than 130 km/h — has been enough to scatter insurgents, who know the drone's electronic eyes are scanning the terrain — and passing the view back to commanders on the ground.
The new vehicles will be able to fly for 12 hours, up from the four-hour range of the drones now in use. They'll keep watch over terrain and water using a mix of infrared and electro-optical technology to feed images back to the ground.
In Canada, the long-range drones will be used in conjunction with the Aurora maritime surveillance planes to patrol Canadian territory, Lucas said.
The air force chief said he hopes to have the first strategic lift transport — likely the Boeing C-17 — flying in Canadian colours within the year.
While that purchase sparked controversy when announced last week, Lucas said the new long-range transport planes will transform the military's ability to respond to world events.
"One of the great capabilities strategic lift gives us is to immediately go to places," he said.
That includes the ability to immediately deploy the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team, which in the past has been sent to Pakistan and Sri Lanka on leased civilian aircraft.
"There have been examples where we got there but not as crisply as we could have," Lucas said in an interview.
The purchase of the new SAR aircraft and aerial drones, coupled with last week's spending announcements, marks a welcome turn-around for the air force.
"It's been 15 years of survival," Lucas said. "Each year there's been a little bit less to do a job which has become more and more challenging."
For example, the old Hercules transports are grounded by maintenance work more than 50 per cent of the time, he said.
But the new aircraft will dramatically extend the reach of the Canadian military.
"The toolsets we are rebuilding are giving us the capability to respond to a much broader set of crises in the world," Lucas said.
Canada is ready to send CF-18 fighters to Afghanistan to support troops, but Lucas said it's unlikely they would be deployed anytime soon.
"Our allies are already there with that capability," Lucas said, noting that Dutch F-16s and British Harrier jets are flying in southern Afghanistan.
The air force general also said there are no immediate plans to buy a new aircraft to replace the decades-old Tutor used by Canada's famed Snowbirds. The team has changed airborne manoeuvres to reduce the strain on the airframes.
"We keep a sharp eye to make sure the aircraft are airworthy and that the stresses are minimized," Lucas said.
And he assured air show fans the team will be flying in its current form for at least a decade, thanks to a stockpile of mothballed Tutors. Lucas also said ongoing upgrades to the CF-18 fighters, first purchased in the 1980s, will keep them operational for another decade.
Canadian Military Ping
Drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, are relatively cheap to purchase and operate. They provide an exceptionally useful overview that is both sharp and broad, and are relatively immune to ground interception, partly because they are mostly inconspicuous, and hard to hit from any ground-launched weaponry even when detected.
Really big "bang for the buck" in terms of extending and augumenting the view available to commanders on the ground.
Trust the Toronto Star to open the article with a bold face sub-head referring to needed military purchases as a "spending spree".
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Cool pic of Leopart (1) with applique armor. When I was in Germany with M-60A1 (RISE) and M-60A2, it was fielded as the latest thing by the West Germans.
Nice thing about it: The gunner's station used a laser range finder operated by the gunner's foot. The process was so fast, that Germans didn't teach battlesight shooting at all. The laser ranged shot was nearly as fast, and a lot more likely to hit at the longer range.
At the same time the Israelis shot one round to base of center of mass, good for a hit to 1200 meters, one round to center of mass, good out to 1800 meters, and one round to top of mass, good out to 2300 meters. The first round would kick up enough dust so that an enemy at longer range would use his range finder to determine the distance to the dust cloud....
Rock-Paper-Scissors. The Great Game.
Also IIRC the guard there was formerly known as "The Boys From Syracuse" until a gender lawsuit forced them to change the name. :0(
If the program is in Syracuse that might make for a good fit with a Canadian program and could help with security along the St. Lawrence Seaway.
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