Canadians need to be clear-eyed that if we want to have a modern, rightly equipped, capable Canadian Armed Forces, our geostrategic position practically dictates that we pay more for equipment to meet our unique operational requirements. This is why purchasing “off-the-shelf” (OTS) military equipment is so problematic. OTS refers to […]
Afghanistan
32 posts
All this week, reports have been coming out from the federal government about closures and reductions in federal service programs. Up until the various announcements, Defence Department spokespersons repeatedly declined to comment where the anticipated 1,000 jobs would be cut, citing the ‘rights’ of ‘Defence Team members’ to be advised […]
Dr. David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, published a fascinating vision statement in the form of an opinion article in the Globe and Mail on Friday, 17 February. He asserts that finding ways to coherently and effectively deal with the complex challenges of the […]
Senator LGen. the Hon. Roméo A. Dallaire (Ret’d), Senior Fellow, Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, Dalhousie University, and Carrier-Sabourin Krystel, War Studies Ph.D. student, Royal Military College of Canada Canada desperately needs to reorganize the way the CF does business in order to deal with modern threats to peace and […]
*Moderator's Note: This article was original published in The Nova Scotian on 11 September 2011. At approximately 9:00 am this morning, the United States Consul-General to Halifax will be joined by a small group of dignitaries at Halifax Stanfield International Airport for the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the […]
An Associated Press news story in the 30 June issue of Herald-Zeitung described the 28 June night attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. Nine attackers, a four-man heavily armed attack team and five others equipped guns and suicide belts, entered the hotel compound from a secluded area behind the […]
The following quote from Secretary Gates should make many in DND quite uncomfortable, particularly those who have turned their backs on a meaningful Canadian amphibious capability in favour of sending Leopard tanks on a COIN Mission: “The need for heavy armour and firepower to survive, close with, and destroy the enemy […]
Some of the issues in Professor Geoffrey Till’s recent paper found here (Naval War College Review, Winter 2010, pp. 33-60) may not apply to Canada, the strategic nuclear deterrent being a prime example. However, as well as being of interest in its own right, the work neatly summarises many key […]
Ken Hansen has posed an interesting question. It is not a question that is independent of other maritime concerns, namely ‘maritime blindness of the Canadian society’, the future of the Canadian navy, and the national interests of Canada. Irrespective of the scientific reasons for the climatic changes unfolding in the arctic, no […]
*Moderators Note: This article is reprinted with permission from Seaways, Journal of the Nautical Institute, October 2009, pp. 25-26 After 16 months of careful preparation and stage managed partial disclosures, the orchestrated launch of “Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030” declared an apparent security paradigm for the […]