Resourcing the Royal Canadian Air Force with the people, power and money it needs to reach a 2035 strategic vision keeps Commander RCAF Lieutenant-General Eric Kenny thinking.
“I always go back to the reason why I think it’s important Canada has a military,” he said, opening a town hall with several hundred 14 Wing Greenwood personnel as part of a February 1 visit with RCAF Command Chief Warrant Officer John Hall and RCAF Honorary Colonel Loreena McKennitt.
Kenny detailed some of the more pressing international concerns: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China’s efforts to exert influence in all domains, including space; North Korean and Iranian aggression.
“There are actors out there to change the state of play to advantage themselves. From my perspective, we need to have a visible, credible deterrence – the world is not going to get any better in the security setting. All of this creates impacts on us, directly or indirectly: commercial shipping, supplies, higher prices, climate change.”
Kenny said the RCAF, looking ahead to what it will be in 2035, must consider people, readiness, modernization and partnerships.
“We examine ourselves to be sure we’re ready. We need a military to provide our citizens with the protections they deserve to ensure day-to-day lives continue, as they have, really, since the Second World War.
“If we don’t have deterrence, we give others opportunities.”
The good news for the RCAF is the money and effort on the immediate horizon to push the Cormorant helicopter mid-life upgrade, signed contracts for F35 fighters, A330 transport and refueling aircraft, P8 replacements for the CP140 Aurora and the SkyGuardian remotely-piloted aircraft. There is infrastructure funding for hangars, upgraded technology and simulators. There are personnel allocations to operate it all, and recruitment challenges appear to be on the upswing.
“It’s absolutely at the front of our minds how we give you and your families what you need to do your job. We have a modernization effort now we haven’t seen since maybe even the Second World War. We know what the platforms will look like. What will our people look like? That’s what makes an air force.”
Hall classes the RCAF’s personnel as a capability in itself.
“We don’t move without you,” he said. “We have to support you and your family.”
He encouraged everyone to read the 2023 CAF “Trusted to Serve” essentials document: the CAF’s commitment between leadership and its members to meet the ethos and values of both the profession of arms and communities and workplaces where “everyone is valued.
“If you’re not reading that, you’re letting your co-workers – and us – down,” Hall said. “Great platforms and great capabilities are online, but never forget the CAF ethos, that we respect the dignity of all people.”
The town hall’s question-and-answer period was wide-ranging, from housing pressures to CAF sports, from trade evolution to bringing on new capabilities.
“Thank you for your candid responses to our questions,” 14 Wing Commander Colonel Jeff Davis said to close the town hall. “We’ve been honoured to have you for this quick visit, and the opportunity as a wing to ask questions and address issues we have here at the wing-level. Your perspectives on global security, and our cultural foundations as the RCAF, are much appreciated as we look at modernizing and multiple transitions, all coming fast and furious.”
