July 2022 – Members of HMCS Halifax respond to a simulated helicopter crash as part of a damage control exercise during Operation REASSURANCE.
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Cory Moore, a former Canadian military officer who helped to develop the Afghan National Army’s legal branch, says a group of lawyers and others who supported his work have been “left in the dark” by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. He is pressing the department to to accelerate its processing of the claims by 12 individuals and their families who fear Taliban reprisals.
It has cost the U.S. Navy $400,000 each to unclog stoppages in heads aboard a couple of aircraft carriers. First documented on one carrier in 2020 and more recently in another newer ship by the Government Accountability Office, the problem is that the sheer volume of waste generated by a crew of 4,000 required an “acid flush” but the USN says it has remedied the issue.
This morning, Lieutenant-General Eric Kenny assumed command of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) from Lieutenant-General Al Meinzinger. The ceremony was presided over by General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.
A Canadian Armed Forces veteran has been charged with murder after a July 31 nightclub shooting in Belize left two people dead and eight others injured. J.R. Smith, who served with the Royal Canadian Regiment in Afghanistan as part of Operation Medusa in 2006, is accused of driving the getaway vehicle. Originally from Newfoundland, he was profiled by CTV five years ago as part of a Remembrance Day feature on veteran entrepreneurship.
Russia has denied extensive damage at an airbase in Crimea August 9 but comparative satellite imagery provided by California-based Planet Labs shows infrastructure damage and destroyed aircraft. It is believed to have been caused by Ukrainian forces but so far Kyiv has not claimed responsibility.
Today, Defence Minister Anita Anand participated virtually in the Copenhagen Conference for Northern European Defence Allies of Ukraine. The conference aims to determine how Northern European Allies and other partners can strengthen collaboration and enhance support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal attack.
Airbus could be getting a contract next year to supply the RCAF with four A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports after being designated as the only qualified supplier. As of August 10, the company had not responded to a Request for Proposal but DND said once that is in Ottawa’s hands, “an assessment and negotiation will occur.” The RCAF wants the first aircraft operational by 2028.
A hard landing by one of the RCAF’s 1960s-era Canadair CT-114 Tutor jets in B.C. last week has resulted in the Snowbirds demonstration team being grounded for the foreseeable future. The pilot was uninjured but the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division ordered the fleet grounded August 10 pending the results of a “broad risk analysis.”
The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre, says the Canadian Armed Forces’ coronavirus vaccination program, mandated last October, remains an operational necessity, but he plans to “tweak” it to find a “sweet spot" between the military's medical, legal, operational and ethical requirements. “This is an institution that's unlike any other because . . . we are the nation's insurance policy,” he says. “We have to go into dangerous locations and close confined quarters, we have to deploy overseas, where there's potentially an increased threat with the pandemic.”
A Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet blown off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier during a July 8 storm in the Mediterranean has been recovered by U.S. Navy salvors using a used a remotely-operated vehicle at a depth of 9,500 feet. The aircraft was transported to a “nearby military installation” for eventual shipment to the U.S
General Wayne Eyre, the Chief of the Defence Staff, refused comment August 8 on reports that CAF personnel are training Ukrainians in their own country as Russia presses on with its invasion. Calling the reports “disappointing” speculation, he said DND is “never going to talk about discreet or sensitive special operations or confirm or deny them.” If the reports were accurate, he pointed out that confirmation “would put our troops at risk” and he sought to “balance transparency with operational security and try to find that sweet spot in the middle.”
High mobility artillery rocket systems, mortar and artillery ammunition, anti-tank missile systems, explosives and demolition equipment are in the 18th U.S. shipment of arms to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February. The Defense Department announced the $1-billion package August 8 as the World Bank confirmed $4.5 billion in U.S.-financed budgetary assistance.
Insisting that it remains committed to its strategic arms control treaty with the U.S., Russia is suspending inspections of its facilities. Citing the coronavirus and western sanctions, the foreign ministry said August 8 that “Russia is now forced to resort to this measure as a result of Washington’s persistent desire to implicitly achieve a restart of inspections on conditions that do not take into account existing realities.” It also accused the U.S. of trying to create “unilateral advantages and prevent Russian inspections of U.S. facilities
NATO membership for Finland and Sweden is seven countries short of ratification as of today, five weeks after Canada was the first of the 30 alliance members to ratify the request in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and generally growing regional belligerence. The Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and Portugal have yet to decide, with Hungary and Turkey expected to be the last to complete the process.
Alexander Shiplyuk, head of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences' branch in Siberia, has been arrested on suspicion of treason. Transferred to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow, he is the third prominent Russian scientist arrested recently in relation to their work on hypersonic technologies.
An economic package approved by the U.S. Senate, with Vice-President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote August 7, includes a proposed 15 per cent tax on most corporations making more than $1 billion in annual profits. The $750-billion package now headed for the House of Representatives also includes funding for climate emissions measures and a proposal which would enable the government to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices
Despite the grounding of several aircraft fleets due to concerns about ejection seats, the Department of Defence is said by seat manufacturer Martin-Baker to have found only one defective explosive cartridge on its frontline F-35 fighters. Seats on some training aircraft are still being examined.
A ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding after three days of intense violence, including rockets fired by both sides. At least 44 Palestinians are reported to have been killed as Israel, reporting no casualties except minor injuries, began lifting a blockade today.
Reacting to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s brief visit to Taiwan earlier this week, China says it is ending discussions with the U.S. on key issues such as climate change as it ramps up military provocations. The White House summoned China's ambassador, Qin Gang, late August 4 to tell him that the military actions were of “concern to Taiwan, to us and to our partners around the world.”
A threatened strike at three Boeing defence facilities in the St. Louis area was averted today when members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted for a three-year contract. The company said it was satisfied with the deal which improved retirement plans previously offered to the union.
Defence Minister Anita Anand confirmed today that Canada will commit up to 225 troops for an initial four months to a British Army training program for Ukrainians. It effectively restarts Operation Unifier, an extended training initiative which saw more than 33,000 Ukrainians receive advanced training by CAF personnel before it was suspended last winter
Even though Defence Minister Anita Anand called it “desecration” at the time, Ottawa police are not charging a man who placed a U.S. flag on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial last month. “He showed remorse for the incident and police are confident that he will not repeat it,” the police explained Aug. 3.
In a new “air shielding” initiative, NATO is building up its defenses in Eastern Europe in response to Russian aggression. Essentially an evolution of its long-standing “air policing” activities, the alliance says the “increased air and missile defense posture . . . will provide a near-seamless shield from the Baltic to the Black Sea, ensuring NATO allies are better able to safeguard and protect alliance territory, populations and forces.”
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Aug. 2 that a major nuclear power station in southeastern Ukraine “is completely out of control” since Russian forces seized it shortly after their invasion of the region. “Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated,” he said, demanding IAEA access to the “extremely grave and dangerous” Zaporizhzhya site in the city of Enerhodar.
HMCS Margaret Brooke, the RCN’s second offshore patrol vessel, left Halifax Aug. 2 with the coastal defence vessel HMCS Goose Bay for a two-month Arctic deployment. They are to be followed by the first OPV, HMCS Harry DeWolfe, for the latest Operation Nanook, working with U.S. Coast Guard as well as Danish and French navy vessels.
ISSUES & IDEAS

Chief of the Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre concluded the 2022 meeting of the Arctic Chiefs of Defence in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Canada hosted representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and the United States to share lessons learned from ongoing Arctic operations and to coordinate enhanced cooperation.

Keeping Russia "at bay" is not a solution to the carnage happening in Ukraine. With Russia firing 10 times the amount of ammunition than Ukraine, Putin knows he will win, unless something changes.

It is now 11 years since I served in Afghanistan, and almost a year since those who helped us were abandoned to the increasing brutality of Taliban rule, it's time the govt cut the red tape and made good on its promises.