Evidence of meeting #7 for National Defence in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our study of the defence of North America and specifically Canadian NORAD region aerial readiness. I'd like to welcome our guests today, General Hood and General Balfe. Our opening statement this morning will be made by General Hood.
Sir, you have the floor for 10 minutes. Welcome.
Lieutenant-General Michael Hood Commander, Royal Canadian Air Force, Department of National Defence
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to be here today to discuss the Royal Canadian Air Force and our readiness, particularly in the context of the defence of Canada and of North America.
I am very pleased to be offered this opportunity, because informing Canadians about our air force's role and contribution to the safety and security of our citizens is an essential part of my responsibilities as commander.
Readiness, in its simplest form, is about being able to deliver on our government's domestic and international defence commitments in a highly complex and ever-changing environment. Readiness includes our people, our aircraft and systems, and the other resources that, together, provide the air power capabilities the government requires to serve Canadians and Canadian interests. This is a very important concept. We have many no-fail missions. Canadians depend upon us, and this is the reason we strive to excel at all we do.
I'd like to begin my remarks by discussing our core air power capabilities. Air power is agile and fast, and has the range required to protect Canadians at home and abroad. We are tasked by government to provide five principal capabilities.
The RCAF is tasked to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance. The situational awareness of Canada's vast land mass, maritime approaches, and airspace is a critical task essential to guaranteeing Canadian sovereignty.
We control our airspace and are ready with the power necessary to act in control of that airspace in the defence of Canada and North America, or when deployed on NATO or coalition operations.
That power to act leads to our capability to attack as required, based on the assigned mission. This controlled use of force, when our government chooses to use it, is a key aspect of military air power, distinct from civil resources.
We also provide air mobility for personnel, equipment, and systems to be deployed anywhere in Canada or around the world as part of Canadian Armed Forces missions and in support of other government departments. We enable the government to reach far and fast, thereby contributing to Canada's reputation as a valuable international player.
Last, we provide critical support capabilities, whether to joint operations with our sister services, or to civil authority in the form of humanitarian aid or essential search and rescue missions.
The 18,000-strong women and men—regular, reserve, and civilians—span the gamut from pilots and air crew to maintenance personnel, logisticians, and engineers, based in Canada and across the world. They execute and support our critical missions—NORAD, search and rescue, or support to the United Nations—wherever we are called upon to further our nation's priorities. These air power capabilities must be available to the government whenever needed, on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is the readiness of our people, their education, training, and commitment, that makes this happen.
The Royal Canadian Air Force strives to be an inclusive, agile and integrated organization, led and filled by those with the professionalism, expertise and airpower mastery that Canadians both need and expect from us.
It is needless to say that our foremost defence priority is the defence of Canada and Canadians. This requires that the RCAF is aware of any potential hostile activity occurring within Canadian territory, ready to protect all of the approaches to it, able to effectively deter threats, and able to respond to contingencies anywhere in the country, from hurricanes in the Maritimes, to floods on the prairies or environmental issues in the Arctic.
While protecting Canada's sovereignty requires close collaboration among all the constituent parts of our military, it is clear that comprehensive surveillance is best done from the air and from space. Thus, our airpower capabilities represent a key and critically important component of Canada's overall response to any potential threat, given the agility, speed, reach and power of the RCAF.
Furthermore, in the event of a natural or man-made disaster anywhere on Canadian soil that threatens public safety, air power is a key enabler to provide immediate, coordinated, and sustained military support to other government departments and agencies, as we have done in many continental contingencies. Our readiness includes our primary responsibility for aeronautical search and rescue. Last year the rescue coordination centres received 9,534 calls for help. Of these, 962 were tasked to the Canadian Armed Forces, resulting in 661 aircraft launches by the RCAF. This is a no-fail task that we deliver daily to Canadians.
The defence of Canada also requires a defence of North America. The principle that North America is indivisible from a defence perspective is reflected in the existence of the NORAD command, which was established in 1958. Our binational military organization was established to monitor and defend North American airspace. NORAD monitors and tracks, validates, and warns of potential attack against North America by aircraft or missiles, or of potential damage from space debris.
Since 9/11 NORAD defends against potential asymmetric air attacks involving civilian aircraft through Operation Noble Eagle and has a role in support of security for major events like the Vancouver Olympics or the G7 and the G20 both in Canada and in the U.S.
Canada contributes financial resources, physical assets, and personnel to NORAD, and commands one of the three NORAD regions, the Canadian NORAD region, out of our RCAF operational headquarters in Winnipeg. Canadian NORAD region maintains fighter and tanker aircraft on alert, operates and maintains the Canadian portion of the north warning system, the radar chain in the north, and operates four forward-operating locations to support fighter operations in the Arctic.
Together, Canada and the United States also monitor our maritime approaches under the maritime warning role of NORAD. As a result, Canada's defence and security responsibilities are also shaped by the overarching requirement to be seamlessly interoperable with our U.S. air force counterparts in the air and space domain. We have Canadian and American personnel embedded in each other's command structures throughout the three NORAD regions. This interconnectedness and interoperability contribute to the fact that we are a well-known and trusted air power partner at home and when operating together abroad.
We maintain units at high levels of readiness for expeditionary operations. Uniquely, at any given point in time, we can immediate deploy the majority of our air power capabilities, contributing with speed to accomplish government objectives. To be clear, though, our readiness for NORAD and search and rescue operations take precedence.
In conclusion, airpower provides one of the most flexible military instruments available to the government. Airpower offers the ability to project power quickly and precisely and to rapidly deploy and respond anywhere in Canada or around the world.
The RCAF has at the ready, and employs, capabilities for the surveillance and control of the Canadian airspace. We have the power and reach to critically contribute to the shared defence of the continent, Canadian interests, and Canadians.
We meet these responsibilities daily and prepare for the challenges of the future, because of the extraordinary Canadians in the ranks of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Your air force is ready, and I am ready to take your questions.
Thank you very much.
Liberal
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much, sir, for being here and welcome. It's an honour to have you here.
You basically answered my first question. I was going to ask you to give us your personal assessment on our level of readiness and that's mostly what you spoke to. You said we control our airspace and are ready with the power to act in control of that airspace, and you said airspace capabilities must be available on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and you also said our readiness takes precedence.
Can you tell us about some of the challenges that you face in managing resources to make sure that you do have the appropriate level of readiness?
LGen Michael Hood
The readiness of the entire Canadian Armed Forces is set annually, and that flows through funding that goes to the three services. For instance, for the Royal Canadian Air Force I'm funded in my operations and maintenance budget to ensure that I can keep my NORAD commitments at a posture that's ready.
From a resource perspective, that has not been a challenge under my watch at this time. We have enough trained personnel; we have enough aircraft and enough maintenance people to keep them going and we have the money, certainly, to operate.
That readiness is an inherent task. If I were to have any challenges with it, I would present those to the chief and without doubt they would be funded on top of that.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Although there could be a time gap, if you found a challenge, in finding a way to get funded and equipped.
LGen Michael Hood
I think there's enough inherent redundancy in the system to allow us to meet all those demands. In our busiest year, for example—if I go back to 2010 when we were still heavily fighting in Afghanistan and had a large aviation and C-130 detachment plus the airlift going out—we were also doing that overflight I talked about at the Olympic Games. NORAD had F-18s on alert in very close proximity to the Olympics.
Then Haiti happened, and we were able to respond. That taxed probably the largest percentage of air power in my career, but we were able to do that with our readiness.
That's unique to the RCAF. I don't train for six months once I'm informed about a mission. We're ready to go now. The requirements of aviation safety require me to keep the majority of our personnel at a very high level of readiness, which talks to that agility and speed, and that reach that I spoke to in my comments.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Let's switch gears a little here. We've been hearing lots about the Russians lately.
How often do Russian aircraft enter our Canadian airspace? If so, what do we do? How do we respond to something like that?
LGen Michael Hood
We respond to each and every occurrence that happens. I can tell you, in the last couple of years they've reached numbers that approximate those of the height of the Cold War. On each and every occasion there's been Canadian or U.S. air power, depending on their approaches, ready in response.
That quite often happens north of Inuvik. We'll deploy F-18s to Inuvik and be ready to intercept them if they approach Canadian airspace. That's not an uncommon occurrence. I don't have specific numbers available to me right now, but I'm sure the commander of NORAD or the deputy commander of NORAD, when he's here next week, will be able to give you more specificity.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
So it's not a blip. This is not a new thing. Is this something that has always occurred, or is this a blip, or a jump?
LGen Michael Hood
I wouldn't say it's a blip. When you talk about the resurgence of Russia and its military power, we've seen a concomitant increase in long-range aviation, Russian bomber aircraft approaching North America, approaching the U.K. They've flown up the English Channel. If you were in Japan, they've circled the Japanese.... It's not a uniquely Canadian challenge. But for us, after a period of relative calm after the end of the Cold War, over the last 10 years we've seen an increasing number of flights into the Arctic.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Earlier in this committee work, we heard an expert say that he felt there was really no imminent threat to Canada within the next decade. Then we heard another witness suggest this might not be the case. I kind of got the impression she felt that wasn't necessarily the case or may not be the case. Do you see any imminent threat within the next decade to Canada?
LGen Michael Hood
I think it depends on what you would think is imminent. When we talk about threats, threat talks to capability and intent, so there are potential adversaries that have the capability, and on any given day may or may not have intent.
There is a real threat to Canadian sovereignty, without a doubt. The question is, is that likely to occur tomorrow or the week after? From my experience, I don't think we're very good at predicting things, whether that's the fall of the Berlin Wall, whether that's 9/11 and the 10 subsequent years of asymmetric battle, or Crimea, for that matter.
The Ukrainians got rid of their nuclear weapons in a pact with Russia, with the precise assurance that Ukrainian sovereignty would remain sacrosanct. That happened virtually a couple of weeks after the Sochi Olympics were right in that backyard.
My job is not to necessarily anticipate all those things; it's to be ready for them. When I think about the posture that NORAD has, and the requirement to protect Canadian sovereignty, there are threats out there without a doubt.
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your presentation, lieutenant-general.
You gave us a good presentation, lieutenant-general. If I understand correctly, we currently have in Canada the resources we need to counter potential threats from Russia, from the Arctic or from elsewhere, even terrorist threats from the air.
Is that what you said?
LGen Michael Hood
Do we have sufficient resources at the moment? In terms of the demands that form part of the NORAD mission, for example, we have the resources, but the situation changes from year to year. There are new threats. On Tuesday, I think, the committee discussed air-launch cruise missiles. Now we know the capacity of the Russians, for example in Syria. Those are new threats for which we have to prepare. Are we ready to respond to all the threats? It is difficult to say because there are new ones all the time.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
I would like to talk to you about the location of airbases in Canada from an operational or tactical point of view.
In your opinion, are our airbases located in the right places, given the known threats? Should we be considering changing the locations?
Conservative
LGen Michael Hood
The committee knows that we have two major bases for our fighters. We have one in Bagotville, Quebec, and another in Cold Lake, Alberta.
As I said earlier, in anticipation of potential threats during the Olympic Games in Vancouver, our F-18s were sent to Comox in order to be prepared. During the G8 meeting in Huntsville, Ontario, a while ago, our F-18s were moved to Trenton so that they were closer to the sites. We have the capacity to respond to threats regularly. Our two fighter bases are very well located for training and response needs. Most of the response requests at Cold Lake, for example are from the north, in Nunavik. If the aircraft were in Vancouver, they would be too far away to intervene. In my opinion, our current locations provide us with ideal possibilities.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
You mentioned interoperability with the Americans. At the moment, the F-18s fulfill the role very well. However, if we chose another type of aircraft, what does Canada have to put in place in order to keep the same interoperability within NORAD?
LGen Michael Hood
With the changes that are coming in aeronautics, I would say that the capacities are the following.
I will continue in English so that I can explain more quickly.
I think with the complexity of the signals environment, the way aerial warfare is evolving, interoperability today and into the future will be a very important factor. Your ability to receive information from space-based assets, from AWACS aircraft, from ground-based sensors, from other aircraft, requires a level of interoperability that not every aircraft has the capability to meet.
For example, the U.S. air force, which flies the F-15, the F-22 and the F-16, in the future will be flying the F-22 and the F-35, very complementary in those. I think in making the choice of aircraft for Canada, that has to be one of the factors that keeps in mind our interoperability today but also 20 and 30 years into the future.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Still on the subject of NORAD, do the Americans have to intervene regularly to support Canada or do we have sufficient resources to do the job and respond to the demands?
LGen Michael Hood
NORAD is unique in the world. It really is a bi-national command. For example, it has happened that US Air Force F-15s could not fly because of an accident.
They grounded their whole fleet.
We put Canadian F-18s into Alaska region to stand alert for them. So there are occasions, such as Operation Noble Eagle, for example.
It's not inconceivable that you would have a civilian aircraft begin in Canadian airspace and pose a threat, a 9/11 scenario. We practise that binational work regularly. I'm one of the authorities on that, and I'm trained regularly in scenarios in that regard.
The cross-border doesn't happen very often. I have the exact numbers. I've read some of the testimony before the committee, and I can tell you that in 15 years, the Americans crossed our border with armed fighters four times, and Canada crossed their borders six times. I'm not sure of the numbers that you may have heard previously, but that is fresh off the press, because I anticipated that question, based on some of the previous ones you've had.