http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/Feds+shelve+plans+military+patrol+airplanes/9505582/story.html?fb_action_ids=10201505920915185&fb_action_types=og The last line is a nice summary. ;D
Feds shelve plans to buy new military patrol airplanes
Will spend $2 billion to maintain current fleet to 2030
OTTAWA — The federal Conservative government’s centrepiece defence strategy has taken another hit as plans to buy a new fleet of airplanes to patrol Canada’s coasts and its Arctic territory by 2020 have been effectively shelved.
Instead, documents tabled in the House of Commons on Thursday say the government will invest more than $2 billion to keep its existing Aurora maritime patrol aircraft flying until 2030, by which point the planes will be nearly 50 years old.
The move further hollows out the Conservatives’ so-called Canada First Defence Strategy, which is being rewritten after officials declared it unaffordable only three years into what was supposed to be a 20-year run.
News of the decision also comes just days after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty revealed the government is deferring $3.1 billion in planned military equipment purchases to future years, which will help it balance the budget starting next year.
It isn’t clear whether any of that money had originally been intended to purchase new surveillance aircraft.
Purchased in the early 1980s and intended to detect and destroy Soviet submarines prowling Canada’s three coastlines, the CP-140 Auroras have since been used to provide the military with “eyes in the sky” at home and overseas.
Packed with sensors, they have flown sorties over the Persian Gulf, provided Canadian and allied forces with important intelligence during the 2011 war in Libya, and provided search-and-rescue assistance during recent flooding in Manitoba.
The Auroras underwent a 10-year, $1.6-billion upgrade starting in 1999 to keep them flying to 2020, at which point the Conservative government had planned to purchase 10 to 12 replacements as part of its $240-billion defence strategy.
But budget estimates tabled Thursday said the government has scrapped that plan and instead will “extend the lifespan of the 14 existing aircraft until 2030,” at a total cost of $2.13 billion.
A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said it was the air force’s idea to put off the purchase and upgrade the Auroras instead.
“The augmentation of the Aurora fleet will extend the lifespan of these aircrafts to provide service at the best value for taxpayers,” spokeswoman Johanna Quinney said in an email. “The Aurora is one of the most capable long-range patrol aircrafts in the world and the retrofit will be completed in Canada.”
Air Force Association of Canada national president Terry Chester, who flew Auroras when he was in the military, said he had “mixed feelings” about the decision.
His association, which represents about 7,000 retired forces personnel and associates, had called on the government to continue using the airplanes through 2030 as there had been concern replacements wouldn’t be purchased in time.
But Chester also acknowledged that while he didn’t have concerns about the safety of the Auroras, the older an aircraft gets, the more expensive it is to maintain and operate, and the greater the chances it won’t be available when it’s needed.
The move is likely the latest signal the government is considering a significantly pared down defence strategy as it tries to match what the Canadian Forces needs with its desire to balance the budget.
The Canadian Army in December announced it was pulling the plug on plans to spend $2 billion on new armoured vehicles, while there have been calls to reduce the size of the Canadian military from its current strength of 68,000 full-time members and 27,000 reservists.
David Perry, a defence analyst at the Conference of Defence Associations Institutes, said he expects to see more such decisions to continue using existing military equipment rather than purchasing replacements in next few years.
“
We’ve got a lot of old stuff,” he said.
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January 25, 1979 – The first Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft rolled out at Lockheed, Burbank, California.