In response to questions from CBC News, the Department of National Defense described the redeployment of two C-130J cargo planes and associated ground support crew as necessary in light of ongoing efforts to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition. The airborne detachment has been based out of Kuwait under Operation Impact for several years. Canada’s top military commander, General Wayne Eyre, confirmed the redeployment to CBC News on Wednesday during a visit to the military air base at 5 Wing Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador. Chief of the Defense Staff General Wayne Eyre at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Trenton, Ont., on June 20, 2022. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press) While mission demands related to the war in eastern Europe drove the decision, Eyre said he is confident the cargo planes can continue to support missions in Iraq and peacekeeping missions as needed. “What we’ve done is consolidated in Scotland our C-130 tactical air force to be able to provide that support to Ukraine within Europe [and] to provide episodic support in the Middle East, as well as episodic support in Africa,” he said. Canada’s military cargo planes – both C-130Js and the larger C-17s Globemasters – have been working overtime since Russia stepped up its invasion of Ukraine in February. They transport humanitarian aid, military hardware and ammunition to points in Eastern Europe where the supplies can be transported across the border to Ukraine. Although not part of the equipment airlift, flight tracking shows that one of Canada’s military surveillance aircraft – a CP-140 Aurora attached to NATO as part of an intensive monitoring effort for signs of Russian aggression – was also flying from northern England to patrols over the North Atlantic. A CP-140 Aurora aircraft on the ground in Kuwait in 2015. (Canadian Forces Combat Camera) News of the redeployment comes as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrives in Canada on Thursday to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and tour Arctic defense facilities. The Trudeau government recently signed off on a UK-led military mission that will see British and Canadian troops train Ukrainian recruits at UK bases It is a huge undertaking. The aim is to train up to 10,000 soldiers every five weeks. Dan Le Bouthillier, DND’s director of media relations, said Canadian aircraft were not involved in the flight of Ukrainian trainees to and from Britain. That’s the job of the Royal Air Force, he said. Eyre said the military is trying to find a balance between overseas operations and the need for aviation resources at home. C-130 Hercules aircraft were first deployed to the Middle East in 2017 as part of the federal government’s renewed commitment to the international coalition fighting Islamic State militants. They transported troops and equipment around Iraq and throughout the wider region. Later, Ottawa expanded the mission to include supposed once-a-week support missions for United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa. Dave Perry, a defense expert at the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs, said the pressure to keep up the pace of all those flights — especially to Eastern Europe — started to show a few months ago. “I wasn’t surprised that there was a redistribution, just given the amount of stuff, the material, that’s being moved,” said Perry, whose agency has occasionally hosted defense contractor-sponsored events. Military planners have learned some hard lessons in the past several months as overseas demands have increased, he said. “Whenever there’s an international crisis, airlift is always in short supply,” said Perry, who added that the Liberal government’s recent decision to replace the air force’s air-to-air refueling fleet and VIP transport was likely affected by the increased demands. “I think it reinforces the rationale and the increase in acquiring multiple tankers, because clearly, there is some pretty pressing demand for airlift.”
