Ottawa to spend $1.2B on military trucks

Last Updated Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:20:37 EDT

CBC News

Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser slips on a Kevlar vest in this file photo. (CPImages/ Murray Brewster)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - President Hamid Karzai is a strong leader who is revered by his people and fully supports the international coalition's campaign against the Taliban, Canada's top military leader in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser had just returned from meetings with Karzai in Kabul, where the president is under growing criticism at home and abroad over the increasingly violent insurgency and government corruption.

Fraser said he got a different impression of the president as they met to discuss the coalition's military operations in Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.

"He (Karzai) is an incredibly charismatic man who is passionate about this country. He is a great leader who meets with elders all the time," said Fraser, the commander of the coalition's multinational brigade.

"He still has the full support of the people down here. He is revered as a great leader for Afghanistan and I can't say enough about him. He is just quite a remarkable man."

Only last week, Karzai called on the coalition to change its military tactics because too many Afghans, including Taliban, were being killed.

The Afghan government estimates that up to 600 people have died since April, including more than 150 in the past few weeks.

Coalition forces, including troops from Canada, the U.S., Britain and Romania, have been suffering casualities in some of those clashes as part of Operation Mountain Thrust, the ongoing military operation to root out Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Two British soldiers were killed in action Tuesday during a fire fight with Taliban in northern Helmand province.

Six Canadians were wounded last Thursday in separate roadside bomb and suicide bomb attacks in Kandahar.

Fraser said coalition troops only use force when they have to. He blamed the Taliban for the casualties.

"I had a chance to talk with the president himself and went over what we are here to do to support him," Fraser said.

"We are well within what he wants us to do - which is to support him in his vision of establishing an Islamic republic. We're doing it. I told the president the last thing we want to do is shoot."

Karzai won a landslide election victory in 2004 on promises of political reforms and stabilizing the economy.

Political commentators have been criticizing the president for re-arming illegal militias to help fight the Taliban after foreign governments spent millions of dollars to disarm these groups.

Karzai has also been accused of appointing police officers known for corruption to key jobs.

Fraser said the campaign to neutralize the Taliban and extend the reach of the Afghan government in remote rural areas is making progress, but will take time.

Canadian forces are handing over a strongpoint near the village of Gumbad to a unit of Afghan National Army troops, a process that will continue in other areas as the training of Afghan army and police improves, he said.

The coalition is investigating the idea of establishing a stronger base in Spin Boldak, a town located in southeast Kandahar only a stone's throw from the Pakistan border.

The town, located astride Highway 4, is a key economic link between the two countries, he said.

"The coalition presence down there will be changing over time. Canadians are right now engaged in a reconnaissance down there," Fraser said, adding it is too early to say how many troops will be posted in Spin Boldak.

Earlier this year the federal government committed Canadian troops to continue operating in Afghanistan until 2009.

In August, coalition forces, including the Canadians, will come under the command of NATO, which plans to step up operations in the region.

Fraser warned Canadians at home not to expect a quick victory.

"Is the situation tense? Yes. Is the challenge huge? Absolutely," he said. "I can tell you it won't end this summer."

CTV.ca News Staff
 
Updated: Sun. Jun. 25 2006 11:47 PM ET

In a heartfelt message to Canadian troops about to be deployed to Afghanistan, Governor General Michaelle Jean urged soldiers and their families to take pride in the work they are setting out to do.

Jean, who is the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces, flew to CFB Petawawa in her helicopter to speak to troops who had gathered for Family Day at the base. About 1,600 troops from the base will soon be deployed to Afghanistan.

"I know you will be greatly missed by your families and loved ones, but the work you will be doing over there makes us proud, so proud, because we know you are going halfway around the world to stand up for justice and freedom, to help the Afghan people break free from tyranny and oppression," Jean said.

She praised the military families who were supportive of their husbands and wives and relatives who will be risking their lives in Afghanistan, saying they make the "sacrifice out of respect for the life your loved one has chosen."

Jean suggested the soldiers will be exporting a Canadian belief in freedom and democracy to a land that desperately needs it.

"There is no greater act of compassion than to risk everything to help women and men and children you have never met, who live what seems like a world away but whose suffering cannot be ignored....What you will be defending in Afghanistan is the ideal of a fair society where every citizen has rights. A democratic ideal to which all people of this earth should be able to aspire."

Before bidding the troops "bonne chance," Jean wished the soldiers a safe return and said she will be carrying each of them in her heart.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier introduced Jean.

Increasing combat activity has made the Afghanistan mission more dangerous for the troops. However, Hillier spoke about the high level of training the soldiers have received and emphasized that they will be using the best equipment available -- from combat boots to Kevlar vests to hydration systems-- when they arrive in Afghanistan.

"We have spared no effort and no amount of money to set conditions for success," Hillier said.

He described the soldiers as "a flicker of light in a long dark tunnel," and said the deployment is "a mission for 28 million men and women in the worst days and months of their lives who desperately need some help, and they desperately need the kind of help that you can provide.

"You are the ones that bring the hope to Afghans that someday their lives will be much better."

Hillier said Canada and other NATO nations operating in Afghanistan are defeating the Taliban.

"The Taliban are losing the last few areas where they used to rest and recuperate and plan and train," he said.

While some experts argue the Taliban are getting stronger, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor told CTV's Question Period those experts are wrong.

"I think they've met us head on and we have performed very, very well," he said.

With a report from CTV's Robert Fife

Afghan boys line up to be vaccinated for polio at Canadian-led village medical outreach clinic near Gumbad. (CP PHOTO/John Cotter).

GUMBAD, Afghanistan (CP) - With a rifle in one hand and medical supplies in the other, Capt. Marilynn Chenette strikes an image that just about captures the essence of the coalition's mission in Afghanistan - security and humanitarian aid.

On Monday a medical team of Canadians, Americans and Afghans jammed aboard two British Chinook helicopters and landed deep in Taliban country to hold what the military calls a village medical outreach. Within minutes of the choppers' noisily thumping down the jagged valley, hundreds of poor farmers and their children, some with herds of goats and cattle in tow, began lining up to wait in the hot sun.

For many it will be their first time ever seeing a doctor.

"We are here to help these people, we want to make them healthier," said Chenette, a health administrator with the Edmonton-base 1 Field Ambulance, who strides around carrying a C-5 rifle.

The medical team hopes to cajole the villagers into taking de-worming medicine and to vaccinate the children against polio, a disease that is sweeping Afghanistan.

"We are telling them basically that this is a safe area today. Come out and we will get you the vaccines."

As the doctors and medics set up shop, Canadian and Afghan troops scan the ridges that frown over the compound for Taliban. Three men are seen on a far-off hill watching the gathering crowd.

When Afghan National Army soldiers excitedly train a heavy machine-gun on the hill, the trio melts away into the landscape.

"There are Taliban all over the place," said Warrant Officer Chris Thorne, who warns the medical team about improvised explosive devices - military jargon for roadside bombs.

In the past few months there have been a half-dozen such bomb explosions around Gumbad. Canadian soldiers have dubbed the area IED Alley.

Less than a kilometre away from the clinic, two platoons of light armoured vehicles - the LAV IIIs - stand by in reserve in case of trouble.

Seemingly oblivious to the threat, groups of men and boys begin entering the compound and into a human assembly line of medical staff.

A team of U.S. navy corpsman and an Afghan interpreter patiently explain the benefits of the vaccines to the village elder and his oldest son, who agree to not only take the medicine, but to help administer it.

Soon more than 100 of boys are wincing at the "taste" of the vaccines, which they manfully swallow under the intense gaze of their peers.

Then it is off to see a doctor with their fathers or grandfathers. The men have not allowed their wives to attend the clinic, although a few of their daughters are on hand to be screened by female doctors.

"My son is sick so we have come here for medicine," said Tor Zhan, a shopkeeper in Gumbad, as he lined up to see Afghan and coalition physicians.

Many villagers suffer gastrointestinal diseases and other maladies such as scabies and shigella. Others have tuberculosis, improperly set broken limbs and fevers.

The doctors give everyone who lines up a checkup and then dispense basic medicine and advice on hygiene.

One man brings in his five-year-old daughter who he says has been behaving strangely.

In less them a minute the doctors discover that the young girl has cataracts and is almost completely blind.

"I'm so sorry but there is nothing we can do," said a doctor through an interpreter. "Her only chance is surgery."

When the families finish their medical checks each father is given a blanket full of goodies including rice, beans, a radio, clothes and an Afghan national flag.

They are also given a handout urging Taliban to give themselves up. It is written in English, Pashtun and in pictographs. Most of the villagers can't read.

In a few hours, the medical team has checked about 450 villagers and inoculated more than 120 children against polio.

They also hope they have delivered a message.

"We want to show them that their own government is supporting them," Chenette said. "We are here to fight the bad guys and at the same time help them (villagers) out."

CTV.ca News Staff
 
Updated: Sun. Jun. 25 2006 12:51 PM ET

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor says his $15 billion spending plan is necessary to update a military that has been hollowed out after years of underspending and cutbacks.

Speaking on CTV's Question Period, O'Connor said the massive spending plan is an absolute necessity.

"What we're trying to do now is put in place the very basic requirements of the military to be effective. Mobilities - air mobility, army mobility on the ground, and mobility at sea, so that's where we're starting."

Beginning this week, O'Connor and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be visiting four Canadian cities across Canada to build support for the plan -- which makes the largest single defence spending bonanza in the nation's history.

The wishlist includes $2 billion for three naval support ships, $1.1 billion for new army trucks, $4.2 billion for 15 heavy-lift helicopters, and $7.5 billion for tactical and heavy-lift aircraft.

O'Connor countered allegations that he and Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hiller were at odds over the spending plan.

Insiders suggested Hillier wanted short-haul tactical airlift capable of landing on rough fields with speed and greater protection, while O'Connor wanted strategic lift.

O'Connor told Question Period the military, between 2003 and 2005, made four recommendations to the former Liberal government -- all of which were denied -- to acquire strategic lift.

"The military are 100 per cent behind strategic lift and so is Gen. Hillier. The only issue is how much money we have and what we can afford to have," O'Connor said.

However, the military will be getting both needs answered -- ending any crossing of swords between Hiller and O'Connor.

"Right now the cabinet has provided me with enough money to buy strategic and tactical lift. So there's never been a dispute whatsoever."

Under the current arrangement, the Canadian military rents heavy-lift aircraft from Russia and Ukraine whenever it is needed.

That arrangement is unacceptable, O'Connor said, because it means those countries can refuse access to the equipment if they disagree with the purpose.

The planes are also available on the commercial market, which means the military is competing against other private customers to use the equipment.

In addition, the planes are not certified for use in Canada, beyond landing and taking off.

In addition to overseas use, the new equipment will give Canada the ability to meet needs within its own borders.

"We shouldn't be depending upon other countries. We shouldn't be depending upon other countries ... to lift our troops or our equipment. We've got to be self reliant."

O'Connor also dismissed suggestions he has major conflicts of interest on a number of spending announcements, stemming from his days as a lobbyist.

Critics have demanded he remove himself from the deal, but he has so far refused and shows no sign of changing his mind.

"I don't have any conflicts. I've said this a number of times. I have no relationships to any company at all. I own no shares, I have no revenues, I have nothing from these companies. And if you understand the process, I have no say in who competes and I have no say in who wins."

However Ujjal Dosanjh, the Liberal defence critic, told Question Period O'Connor has a number of conflicts because companies he was involved with as a lobbyist are bidding on the new contracts.

"If he's not involved then why doesn't he just recuse himself and say I wouldn't be involved. He has never said that. The fact is the people he used to meet with in his previous life as a lobbyist are now reporting to him, some of them are still there, with respect to joint support ships, with respect to trucks, and others, he is conflicted."

Dawn Black, the New Democrat defence critic, criticized the speed at which the spending plan has been passed and the changing nature of the military.

However, Black supported giving troops the equipment they require.

"Of course we support a well equipped Canadian Forces. We're asking the men and women of the Canadian Forces to take on ever more dangerous tasks, so they must be equipped with what they need to do the job we ask them to do."

MONTREAL - Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.'s Canadian unit expects to find out in the next two weeks whether it has won the largest contract in its 20-year history, part of a US$2-billion-plus deal to supply the U.S. military with 322 light utility helicopters.

Bell Helicopter, which would do about half the manufacturing of the choppers at its Mirabel, Que., plant and finish them in Texas, is one of four groups vying for the deal, expected to be valued at more than US$2-billion.

Bell's 412EP is up against the UH-145 by American Eurocopter and Sikorsky Aircraft; the UH139 by AgustaWestland and L-3 Communications Holdings; and the MD Explorer by MD Helicopter.

The U.S. Army is planning to use the aircraft at commands and National Guard units for general purpose, non-combat missions. It needs them to replace ageing aircraft as well as Black Hawk choppers that had been performing domestic duties since the Cold War ended but are needed again on the front lines in Iraq and elsewhere. The army said on June 2 it expected to announce the winning bidder within 30 days.

"We're confident," said Michel Legault, director of business development with Bell Helicopter Textron Canada. "We think our helicopter has the most proven reliability of all the copters. We'd like to think we have the best bid in to the U.S. government."

There are 800 of the 412s in service; the biggest customer is Canada's military, with about 100 choppers. But it is a civilian 'copter also used to transport oil workers out to offshore rigs.

The helicopters are one of eight types of civilian choppers made at Mirabel.

Winning the contract would be good news for Montreal-area suppliers, notably engine supplier Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.

But aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said Bell will likely lose to Eurocopter/Sikorsky because its birds cost less -- US$4-million apiece, compared with Bell's US$7-million price. Europter's parent, EADS, is keen to increase its share of U.S. defence spending, and its partner is a unit of U.S. defence giant United Technologies Corp. "I'd say Bell is tied for second" with the others, Mr. Aboulafia said.

OTTAWA (CP) - Beachcombers in British Columbia take note: the navy has lost an expensive practice torpedo that may wash up on shore somewhere.

The three-metre-long torpedo, containing no warhead or explosives, sank unexpectedly in January after it was launched from a military frigate near Victoria, a newly disclosed document shows.

HMCS Vancouver fired the dummy weapon just off the entrance to Esquimalt Harbour to make sure the ship-based firing system was working properly. The frigate has two launching tubes on each side at midship for attacking submarines.

But instead of automatically ejecting its weights and bobbing up to the surface again, the fibreglass cylinder simply sank beneath the waves off Vancouver Island - a "rare occurrence," according to the navy.

The frigate spent three hours in vain looking for the errant object, known as a "hottorp" for Honeywell Operational Training Torpedo, the name given by the original manufacturer.

"All firing conditions were met and torpedo launched successfully, but did not resurface," says a censored report on the incident, obtained under the Access to Information Act.

"The hottorp may rise to the surface . . . and eventually wash ashore. . . . (Request) that local authorities be notified in case the torpedo surfaces at a later time."

A spokesman for the navy said the device, about one-third of a metre in diameter, remains missing in action.

"It hasn't popped up yet," Cmdr. Rod Hughes said in an interview from Esquimalt, B.C.

"We think it's sitting on the bottom out there. We're actually going to go back and look for it this summer. We'll probably recover it."

The training model originally cost about $20,000, but they're no longer being manufactured anywhere.

The navy, which has a few dozen left in its inventory, recently received a quote for $75,000 to build another one, but turned down the offer as too expensive.

The military plans to use side-scan sonar this summer to try to locate the torpedo, and a remote-controlled submersible to attempt to recover it.

But the navy has also notified local civil authorities to be on the watch for a suspicious-looking log that may have been tossed ashore.

The Defence Department is looking at creating a special forces unit based on the West Coast to deal with maritime threats, a move that could see Ottawa-based Joint Task Force 2 commandos spending more time at sea.

Defence officials are releasing few details about the unit, but privately military officers say consideration might be given to using members of JTF2 at Canadian Forces Base Comox on Vancouver Island.

Rear Admiral Roger Girouard, commander of maritime forces in the Pacific, noted in a recent speech there are plans in the works to establish a special forces unit at the base. Such a unit would be made up of navy personnel and specially trained officers, he said in a speech to the chamber of commerce in Victoria.

Rear Admiral Girouard did not release further details, but noted that ferries and cruise ships are particularly vulnerable to a terror attack.

Gerry Pash, a Victoria-based military public affairs official, said the admiral was speaking generally about defence forces in the Pacific region.

"(The admiral) was trying to be as open and transparent as he could be within possibilities, but no decisions have been made," he said. "People are looking at things all the time."

Additional inquiries about the potential for a B.C.-based special forces unit were referred to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa. But headquarters defence spokeswoman Karen Johnstone said the department would not comment on special forces issues.

Currently, JTF2 handles threats on the country's coasts. It is unknown whether the Defence Department is considering a similar unit for the East Coast.

During the federal election campaign, the Conservatives promised to boost the numbers of regular force military personnel in British Columbia. Vancouver will host the Winter Olympics in 2010 and defence planners are already laying the groundwork to protect that event from a terror attack. JTF2 is to be on standby to respond to a crisis at the Games.

The Canadian military is in the process of substantially boosting the size of its special forces, which will number around 2,300 by the end of the decade. That includes not only JTF2 and chemical, nuclear and bio-

logical defence specialists, located in Ottawa, but a special forces helicopter squadron and a new special forces regiment at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.

JTF2 also has a cadre of scuba divers and other specialists, as well as high-speed rigid inflatable boats for its naval missions.

On Thursday, the Senate's defence committee released a report which called on JTF2 to be capable of reaching the location of a terrorist attack or emergency incident anywhere in Canada within nine hours.

JTF2 officers have acknowledged the unit must further develop such skills if it's to deal with a nightmare scenario involving terrorists seizing a ship or outfitting a vessel with a weapon of mass destruction and detonating it on Canadian territory. In such a case, the unit would be used to take control of the vessel from terrorists while another specialized military team would deal with the weapon.

Some security experts have been predicting that with increased vigilance over the world's air transportation system after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., groups such as al-Qaeda would shift their attention to ground and maritime transportation.

Canadian troops who suffered casualties yesterday have a keen interest in a proposal going to Treasury Board in Ottawa today, involving the proposed purchase of heavy lift helicopters.

Two separate attacks yesterday that left six Canadians wounded -- one seriously -- raised questions about the Canadian Forces' lack of transport helicopters to handle resupply missions.

The Edmonton-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group relies almost solely on vehicle resupply convoys that usually stick to roads or dried riverbeds called wadis.

Having helicopters, such as big, twin-rotor Chinooks, would be a plus, conceded Major Mario Couture, a Canadian Forces spokesman at the coalition base in Kandahar.

The proposed purchase of about a dozen Chinooks is part of a plan already endorsed by cabinet to also buy up to 17 new-generation Hercules transport planes, three supply and troop carrier ships and 1,000 replacements for 24-year old trucks. That plan is, in turn, part of a $15-billion proposal to re-equip Canada's military.

There's been no indication when the equipment might be delivered.

Meanwhile, Couture said the coalition is doing all that it can to mitigate the risks to its soldiers involved in resupply missions.

"We adapt to threats, we use several types of vehicles, we are using the best equipment that we can," he said. "We vary our routes but unfortunately we cannot mitigate the risk to zero."

One of the bombing sites has been the location of at least five other roadside bomb attacks in the past, including one April 22 that killed four Canadian soldiers.

Ten other soldiers were wounded in those explosions.

The Canadian Forces once had Chinooks but Ottawa sold them to the Dutch in the early 1990s.

Defence analysts say the lack of such an airlift capability is a big problem.

"We'd have less need for roadbound convoys if we had the Chinook, plain and simple," said David Bercuson, a professor at the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

About 7,000 coalition combat soldiers are involved in the operation to root out Taliban in Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.

Harper to unveil $15-billion in defence spending

GLORIA GALLOWAY

Globe and Mail Update

Ottawa — Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce the purchase of trucks, planes, ships and helicopters next week when he unveils a massive $15-billion procurement package for Canada's military.

The spending will be detailed at four separate events in four cities.

It comes after years of complaints by the military that armed forces personnel have been forced to operate with aging equipment that requires endless repair. Gen. Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff was all smiles on Wednesday when he spoke to reporters and senators about the refurbishing of the service — with good reason.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to Halifax on Monday to make the first announcement of three new supply ships at a cost of $2.1-billion, sources have told The Globe and Mail.

Those ships will replace vessels that were launched nearly 40 years ago.

Tuesday's announcement will take place in Quebec where the government will indicate plans to buy trucks worth $1.1-billion.

The truck purchase in that province will be presented as a tradeoff for the fact that the specifications for new airplanes, to be announced at the end of the week, will be tailored to those built by U.S.-based Boeing. Quebec's giant aerospace industry had been lobbying for a piece of the airplane procurement.

Mr. Harper will head to Edmonton on Wednesday to release the requirements for 15 new medium to heavy-lift helicopters. Those are expected to cost $4.2-billion and have been touted by the military as means of ferrying goods and supplies in theatres of conflict, like Afghanistan, without having to travel by land over dangerous terrain.

Then, on Thursday, the final announcement of the new planes will be made at CFB Trenton in Ontario.

That purchase is likely to be the most controversial, given the intensely competitive market for aircraft.

The Liberals — and other airplane manufacturers -- have been complaining for months that the Conservatives have rigged the competition for large, strategic lift planes to suit the Globemaster C-17s made by Boeing. In fact, the government will say it is going to buy four of those planes at a cost of $3-billion. But other companies will be invited to submit competing tenders.

The government will also say it is going to $4.6-billion worth of tactical-lift planes to replace the aging fleet of Hercules aircraft which will start becoming obsolete before the end of the decade.

In the end, the $15-billion worth of equipment to be announced next week will constitute one of the largest packages of military purchases ever tendered in Canada. The military is not one of the Conservative government's five priorities. But it will be able to go into an election — even if one is called early next year — saying it has made headway on the military file.

Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor's office remained tight-lipped about the impending announcments Thursday, but reiterated its support for the Canadian forces.

"Canada's military has seen 13 years of neglect under the previous Liberal government. Our new government is committed to ensuring that we fund the military and give them the equipment they need to do the jobs we ask them to do," a spokesman for Mr. O'Connor said Thursday. "When this government has an announcement to make — we will make it."

With a report from Scott Deveau