Military shops to replace aging Twin Otters

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

The Canadian military is shopping for pricey new planes to make sure they can wave the country’s flag wherever they go across the North.

Military brass say the move will boost Canada’s sovereignty over the furthest reaches of the northern territories.

Without new planes, the military will continue to rent private civilian planes for their more difficult missions around the North.

Col. Normand Couturier said the problem with renting the planes is they aren’t allowed to carry the Canadian flag when they’re dropping off Rangers for their sovereignty expeditions.

Without the flag, the military is less able to show Canada has sovereignty over the areas that they visit.

Couturier said other countries could, in turn, be able to argue more forcefully that Canada is losing its hold over the land.

“It hasn’t been an issue,” said Couturier, commander of the Canadian Forces Northern Area based in Yellowknife. “But it’s something that could be in the future.”

The federal government recently gave approval to Canada’s northern branch of the military to buy new planes in their 2005-06 budget. The new spending is part of a $2.5 billion capital improvement plan for the Department of National Defence.

In the North, Couturier will spend potentially millions of dollars on replacing the military’s classic Twin Otter planes.

The bright yellow planes have flown military personnel into remote areas around the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories for the past 30 years.

In the North, the military mainly uses their planes to transport Rangers for their sovereignty patrols. The aircraft are also used in search and rescue missions.

“The Twin Otter does a good percentage of what we need to do,” Couturier said. “It’s just that it’s getting old and limited because of its age.”

Couturier is now eyeing the modern C27 Spartan or any other aircraft that can go farther and faster.

Couturier said improving the air fleet for CFNA’s 440 Squadron in Yellowknife will ensure the military has a stronger defence for disputed territory in the North.

The new planes will have larger engines, allowing them to carry more equipment, rations, and Rangers than the Twin Otters.

Similarly, they’ll have a bigger fuel tank, and won’t have to stop repeatedly for gas when they’re flying distances like Yellowknife to Iqaluit.

Like the Twin Otters, they’ll be able to land over a short distance on basic runways, like the ones in Qikiqtarjuaq or Clyde River.

Couturier hopes the military will buy the planes sometime over the next few years. He said defence headquarters in Ottawa still has to decide how it wants to use the $2.5 billion allocated for capital spending.

The money is shared between several military projects, including the replacement of the Twin Otters. But the military also plans to buy new helicopters and military trucks.

Canada’s elite anti-terrorist unit, Joint Task Force 2, will pick up the remainder of the capital funding.

Couturier said the new planes will come before 2010, when the military is to retire their Twin Otters.