By Chris Thatcher | March 14, 2019 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 50 seconds.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is hoping to attract retired pilots into the Reserves and move serving pilots from staff jobs back into cockpits as part of a broader effort to retain a critical workforce, according to the vice chief of the defence staff.
“We’re reaching out to retired individuals from the Canadian Forces and seeing if they’d like to join,” LGen Paul Wynnyk told the House of Commons defence committee in late February. “[We want to] make it more flexible for pilots who have retired to go into the Reserves, to perhaps look at ways of getting into [4 Wing] Cold Lake or [3 Wing] Bagotville or wherever we need to fly them, and potential bonuses.”
Wynnyk was responding to a question on the retention of fighter and helicopter pilots, both of which have been heavily affected by the lure of the commercial sector.
“This is not a problem that’s unique to Canada,” he acknowledged. “There’s a lot of pressure on the Five Eyes countries [Canada, U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand] … The big draws are the civilian airlines as they increase substantially.”
Promotion in the Air Force invariably involves a move from the aircraft to staff jobs in various headquarters. Wynnyk said the military was talking with allies about options, and considering ways to encourage those who just want to fly to remain in the service.
“[M]aybe there’s a career stream where you will not necessarily progress in rank, but will get to fly more,” he told the committee.
Wynnyk was one of six senior officials from the Department of National Defence, along with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, to appear as part of a discussion on the budget supplementary estimates for 2018-19 and the interim estimates for 2019-20.
Committee members were also concerned about “a rumour” that the department was returning the engines of the F/A-18 Hornets it has begun receiving from Australia as part of an interim measure to fill a gap in Air Force capability.
“We are in fact sending the engines back–that model of engine,” confirmed Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister of materiel. “We have sufficient spare engines, so we dropped the engines … and we’re using our spare engines to re-engine the aircraft.”
Though the government announced it would acquire 25 Hornets from the Royal Australian Air Force–18 for operational aircraft and seven for spare parts–Finn said the seven spare jets might not be necessary.
“What we’re finding is that the number of spares they’ve been able to provide to us is more than adequate,” he explained. “Rather than take aircraft apart and go through that cost, we’re taking the spares. We may not in fact, at this point, look at any of the seven.”
Finn confirmed the Air Force was still analyzing options to upgrade the combat capability of the current fleet of 76 CF-188 Hornets, as well as the interim jets. Enhancing combat systems was not included in the approximately $360 million budget to acquire and bring the Australian jets up to the same standard as the Canadian Hornets.
“We’re looking at some upgrades around IFF, Link-16, and that’s across the entire fleet,” he said. “That is the next wave that will happen … We are replenishing missiles, looking at different areas, and the Air Force, I’d say, is in the beginning of that next phase of what they would need to do.”
Asked whether Canadians should have confidence in the military’s ability to meet its commitments, based on the state of a number of equipment procurement projects, Jody Thomas, deputy minister of National Defence, said that, with respect to the fighter jet file, the department was meeting its targets.
“The [request for proposals] for the future fighter capability project will be on the street in the spring. We are meeting every single milestone that we have laid out for that project. [And] we are working on a program to recruit pilots and to improve the number of technicians in the Air Force,” she said.
Shameful.
So in order to retain folks, we are trying to recruit and offer “potential bonuses” to the ones who have already left? Kudos to those fighter pilots still serving despite being completely abandoned by their superiors and leaders within organization. As a Canadian, I could not be more embarrassed at how the government, DND, and the RCAF have handled this affair.
“We are in fact sending the engines back–that model of engine,” confirmed Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister of materiel. “We have sufficient spare engines, so we dropped the engines … and we’re using our spare engines to re-engine the aircraft.”
– What a great deal for Canadians. Let’s buy a bunch of jets that are just as old and decrepit as ours, but we’ll send back the engines because our old engines are in better condition. I wonder how compatible these RAAF relics are with our jets? Did the Aussies upgrade their jets exactly the same way we did? I’d wager the answer is no. I would also wager there are some significant differences in software and hardware (ejection seats maybe?) which only further highlights the ineptitude of those making these decisions.
As far as upgrades are concerned, you can put as much lipstick as you want on a pig, but it doesn’t change what it is. The CF-18 was a great platform 15-20 years ago, but it is completely obsolete now. Just buy a new aircraft already! As Canadians, we ask so much of our women and men in uniform, but we put them out to pasture with garbage equipment that is likely to fail or cause them more harm than any adversary. Essentially, we are our own worst enemy in this regard.
“Asked whether Canadians should have confidence in the military’s ability to meet its commitments, based on the state of a number of equipment procurement projects, Jody Thomas, deputy minister of National Defence, said that, with respect to the fighter jet file, the department was meeting its targets.”
– Absolutely shameful. These are the goals the department has set for itself? To operate a 40 year old aircraft with STILL no replacement announced/in sight. Pat on the back to DND for really challenging themselves and meeting all the ‘milestones’ they set for themselves. If only we all set such lofty goals. Let’s put this in perspective; the F-18 completed its first flight in 1978. A 40 year old aircraft at the time the F-18 first flew would have been the Spitfire. The government, DND, and the RCAF should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. As a Canadian, I am embarrassed and appaled that this is how we treat those who we ask to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our democracy and protect our societal values.