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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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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

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.

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.

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.”

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

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.”