Making the Canadian military fighting fit again

OTTAWA—This is arguably the lowest point in the history of the Canadian Armed Forces in terms of combat readiness. A recent internal report was leaked to the CBC which revealed that nearly half of Canada's combat vehicles and weaponry would be undeployable in the case of war due to a lack of serviceability. This includes both the lack of available spare parts and the trained personnel required to maintain our aircraft, ships, and armoured vehicles. Not mentioned in the report specifically was the advanced age of much of that equipment. For instance, Canada's dwindling fleet of CF-18 Hornet fighter jets are more than four decades old, and the 12 Halifax-class frigates that form the backbone of the Royal Canadian Navy have been in service since 1991. From 2001 until 2014, Canada sent more than 40,000 troops to fight in Afghanistan. During those 13 years, the Canadian Army successfully honed its war-fighting skills, and it acquired specialized equipment and weaponry. However, the campaign in Afghanistan was that of counter-insurgency against a primitively armed, largely illiterate Taliban. Most of the tactics learned and equipment purchased by the Canadian Army were aimed at self-protection from improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks by fanatical jihadists. For their part, the RCAF flew its most recent combat sorties against Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan loyalists in 2011, and then against ISIS (a.k.a. Daesh) insurgents in Iraq and Syria from 2014-2016 as part of Operation Impact. The RCAF didn’t sustain any casualties throughout these extended campaigns for the simple reason that the Libyans and Daesh evil-doers were without sophisticated air defences. The last guns-a-blazing experience for the Royal Canadian Navy was off the coast of Libya in 2011 when Gadhafi loyalists opened fire on HMCS Charlottetown near the rebel held city of Misrata. Fast forward to February 2022 and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The heretofore unthinkable became reality as we suddenly had two near-peer modern militaries waging conventional war on European soil. Now, more than two years into that conflict, observers can see exactly what technology has emerged as the new “queen of the battlefield.” Turns out it is the same weapon that has dominated battlefields since the invention of gunpowder: the artillery. However, in a near-peer clash, the artillery needs to be self-propelled and armoured for the survivability of the gunners. The M-777 155 mm howitzers that Canada obtained for Afghanistan were well-suited against a foe that possessed no fire-detection technology, nor any weapons with which to engage the Canadians in return. Russian forces have very sophisticated counter-battery assets, which include a wealth of their own artillery and ammunition. Hence, the M-777s have proven to be a bust in Ukraine. In the air, the drone is the master of the skies in the Ukraine conflict, with both sides employing huge numbers of remotely piloted attack drones of varying sizes. There is literally nowhere to hide on the modern battlefield. As a result, we have seen a wave of counter-drone measures implemented by both sides, which includes everything from active air defence to additional protection on top of armoured vehicles. In terms of manned combat fighters or helicopters, their use has been limited thus far in the conflict. There have been no swirling dogfights overhead, and due to the presence of effective ground to air defences, the Russian air force has only appeared when the circumstances have allowed them to attain a localized window of air superiority. At sea, the Ukrainians have steadily sunk major Russian navy warships in the Black Sea with seaborne drones. This has led military analysts to question the value of manned capital ships in future warfare. Given that the Canadian Armed Forces need to be rebuilt from the ground up, the architects of that restructuring should look to this ongoing conflict for the blueprint of Canada's future military. The fact is that the single biggest challenge crippling the current CAF is the shortfall of personnel in the ranks. The good news is that the future is headed towards an almost completely human-free battle of the high-tech machines. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times

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Making the Canadian military fighting fit again

The architects of restructuring the Canadian Armed Forces should look to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict for the future blueprint of Canada's military.

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