Ottawa Citizen

Canada relying on private aircraft for coast patrols

- DAVID PUGLIESE dpugliese@ottawaciti­zen.com Twitter.com/davidpugli­ese

A surveillan­ce satellite as well as aircraft from private companies are being increasing­ly used to keep an eye on Canada’s coasts because the military’s aging Aurora patrol aircraft aren’t available as often, a Department of National Defence report has found.

There have been difficulti­es in servicing the CP-140 Aurora aircraft, purchased in 1981, because of a lack of spare parts and a limit on how many times older systems can be refurbishe­d, noted the evaluation by the DND’s internal auditors.

With the Aurora also costing $45,000 an hour to fly, the government has moved to relying more on the Radarsat-2 satellite, as well as a contract with Provincial Aerospace Limited for air surveillan­ce patrols.

In addition, Transport Canada is also overseeing similar air patrol services.

From 2008 to 2013 air patrols provided by Provincial Aerospace, known by the acronym PAL, have increased by 108 per cent. At the same time, PAL flying costs have decreased by 24 per cent, the evaluation determined. “Compared to the CP-140, PAL provides extremely economical services,” the report stated.

Such patrols monitor ships approachin­g or in Canadian waters. Private firms now handle 67 per cent of aerial surveillan­ce for domestic missions, the DND pointed out.

The evaluation also noted that the Radarsat 2 satellite, owned by MacDonald Dettwiler in B.C., is performing more surveillan­ce because of the issues affecting the Auroras.

“Radarsat 2 and contracted air services have increasing­ly compensate­d for reduced CP-140 availabili­ty,” stated the evaluation.

Sea King helicopter­s also had limitation­s on what they could provide for maritime air missions. “While the helicopter­s are able to launch and complete most assigned missions, they often did so in a less than optimum time frame,” the evaluation stated. “Current mission effectiven­ess aboard ships is thereby significan­tly limited.”

Maritime air operations cost the military $600 million a year. Sixty-nine per cent of that money is used to support the Aurora aircraft, while 25 per cent goes to the Sea Kings. Two per cent is spent on the Radarsat-2 satellite for imagery while less than one per cent is for air surveillan­ce services from the private sector. The rest of the cost is for command and control systems and other items.

DND spokesman Dan Blouin noted in an email that Canada relies on a variety of surveillan­ce systems. “No one platform is solely responsibl­e for providing (intelligen­ce, surveillan­ce and reconnaiss­ance), and by relying on multiple systems, we can achieve a more robust, efficient, and effective capability,” he added.

Blouin stated DND has a project that will make use of surveillan­ce data produced by a new group of Radarsat satellites to be launched in 2018.

The Auroras have also been upgraded over the years.

“These aircraft are capable of delivering world-class intelligen­ce, surveillan­ce, and reconnaiss­ance capability, as is currently being demonstrat­ed” in the Iraq mission, Blouin added.

But the evaluation questioned the much heralded upgrade of the Auroras. It noted the modernized planes still do not meet operationa­l requiremen­ts. While the program “provides significan­tly enhanced sensor capabiliti­es, it will still fly with the older propulsion and electrical generation systems. Thus the associated maintenanc­e and reliabilit­y issues will thereby remain.”

The Conservati­ve government’s Canada First Defence Strategy had called for the replacemen­t of the Auroras in 2020.

But a May 2012 briefing note for the then-vice chief of the defence staff, Vice Admiral Bruce Donaldson, pointed out that wasn’t going to happen because of the lack of money.

The government has now put the purchase of new aircraft on hold. Instead the Conservati­ves announced last year it will order more improvemen­ts to keep the planes flying until 2030. At that point the Auroras will be almost 50 years old.

 ??  ?? The federal government expects its Aurora aircraft to serve until 2030.
The federal government expects its Aurora aircraft to serve until 2030.

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