A Herculean task
One hopes that the new Minister of National Defence, Gordon O'Connor, will realize very soon that replacing the Hercules transports of the Canadian Air Force is truly urgent. And that the Conservative government will act. Fast.
Old age has claimed another Hercules transport aircraft — considered the lifelines for Canadian troops abroad — fuelling fears the military may soon "fall flat on its face" when called on to respond to an international crisis, experts say.
Air force officials confirm that for the second time in the past year, they've taken a decades-old Hercules out of service because it has "run out of hours," meaning it cannot fly without a costly, time-consuming retrofit to its airframe.
The military also expects two more Hercules, also known as C-130s, will be grounded for the same reason over the coming year, leaving just 28 of the transports for flying duties at home and abroad...
"The problem is becoming acute," said retired Gen. Paul Manson, a former fighter pilot who served as chief of the defence staff in the late 1980s.
"The government of the day has got to solve this problem and solve it pretty darn fast or Canada will be faced with a situation where it falls flat on its face when called upon to take part in some operation around the globe," he said in an interview.
Add in the fact that the remaining Hercules are available for flights only 60 per cent of the time due to necessary maintenance and Canada's air force has the makings of an airlift crisis, experts say...
Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, has conceded the current fleet would be "almost completely inoperational" by the time the replacement aircraft arrive in about three years...
One option has been to rely on civilian transports, as it is doing now in Afghanistan. Two ships carried the Canadians' equipment to Turkey from Canada. From there, leased IL-76s — Russian-built transports — have flown the supplies to Kandahar. Officials expect it will take 135 flights to move what's required by more 2,000 Canadian troops moving into the region. The IL-76s will also carry out weekly resupply runs from Trenton.
Where would we be without the Russians and Ukrainians? Good grief. The Liberals stalled for far too long on re-equipping the Air Force but were starting a fast-track process to replace the Hercules last fall. It will be close to criminal if the Conservatives dither.
Update: More from Chris Wattie, National Post, who has been doing excellent reporting from Afstan.
...maintaining the lengthy air bridge from Canada to Af-ghanistan -- likened by a senior supply officer to "a garden hose with a drinking straw at the end" -- has not been easy, and defence experts say it could all come crashing down because of the weakest link, the air force's ageing CC-130 Hercules transport aircraft...
David Rudd, director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, said it is the last span in the bridge that threatens to collapse the entire structure: the 40-year-old Hercules, which fly in almost daily from a staging base in the Persian Gulf...
See also previous posts:
DEFENCE POLICY: CONSERVATIVES THE NEW LIBERALS (December 5, 2005)
PLANES NOT JOBS: IT'S A START (November 22, 2005)
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
Old age has claimed another Hercules transport aircraft — considered the lifelines for Canadian troops abroad — fuelling fears the military may soon "fall flat on its face" when called on to respond to an international crisis, experts say.
Air force officials confirm that for the second time in the past year, they've taken a decades-old Hercules out of service because it has "run out of hours," meaning it cannot fly without a costly, time-consuming retrofit to its airframe.
The military also expects two more Hercules, also known as C-130s, will be grounded for the same reason over the coming year, leaving just 28 of the transports for flying duties at home and abroad...
"The problem is becoming acute," said retired Gen. Paul Manson, a former fighter pilot who served as chief of the defence staff in the late 1980s.
"The government of the day has got to solve this problem and solve it pretty darn fast or Canada will be faced with a situation where it falls flat on its face when called upon to take part in some operation around the globe," he said in an interview.
Add in the fact that the remaining Hercules are available for flights only 60 per cent of the time due to necessary maintenance and Canada's air force has the makings of an airlift crisis, experts say...
Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, has conceded the current fleet would be "almost completely inoperational" by the time the replacement aircraft arrive in about three years...
One option has been to rely on civilian transports, as it is doing now in Afghanistan. Two ships carried the Canadians' equipment to Turkey from Canada. From there, leased IL-76s — Russian-built transports — have flown the supplies to Kandahar. Officials expect it will take 135 flights to move what's required by more 2,000 Canadian troops moving into the region. The IL-76s will also carry out weekly resupply runs from Trenton.
Where would we be without the Russians and Ukrainians? Good grief. The Liberals stalled for far too long on re-equipping the Air Force but were starting a fast-track process to replace the Hercules last fall. It will be close to criminal if the Conservatives dither.
Update: More from Chris Wattie, National Post, who has been doing excellent reporting from Afstan.
...maintaining the lengthy air bridge from Canada to Af-ghanistan -- likened by a senior supply officer to "a garden hose with a drinking straw at the end" -- has not been easy, and defence experts say it could all come crashing down because of the weakest link, the air force's ageing CC-130 Hercules transport aircraft...
David Rudd, director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, said it is the last span in the bridge that threatens to collapse the entire structure: the 40-year-old Hercules, which fly in almost daily from a staging base in the Persian Gulf...
See also previous posts:
DEFENCE POLICY: CONSERVATIVES THE NEW LIBERALS (December 5, 2005)
PLANES NOT JOBS: IT'S A START (November 22, 2005)
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 12:23 p.m.
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