Igor should have been a master jack long time ago, that crew has one of the best gunners out there
Peter Mackay had declared last month, in CBC/Radio-Canada[...], that our CH-146 going to be very well armed. On every newspapers/news they spoke about new generation of sensor and armed with "Minigun". But since few week some picture show a normal armed CH-146 like everyday with C6 7.62mm and no new sensor/camera and whatever what Peter MacKay had declared before.
MCpl. Al Gorrie prepares to shoot from his door gunner's seat in one of Canada's new Griffon helicopters in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Jan. 30, 2009.
Afghan vote may lengthen Canadian battle tours
The general responsible for all Canadian forces deployed overseas said yesterday he had given "written direction" to the incoming commander of Task Force Afghanistan to come up with contingency plans to provide additional security during national elections that are slated to take place on Aug. 20.
Among the possibilities was to put more Canadian boots on the ground during this crucial period. "There certainly is no plan to surge in more Canadian forces or extend the tours, but it is Afghanistan. Things can change," Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier said in an interview.
The leader of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command said he was leaving it to Brigadier-General Jon Vance, who takes over Task Force Afghanistan this month, "to do his assessment. I won't try to predict the future. We will adjust and adapt."
One option to enhance security during the vote may be to have a longer overlap than usual of two battle groups during a regular rotation of troops that is presently scheduled to take place in early September. If the combat elements of the rotating battle groups were to both be in Afghanistan during the election, the number of Canadians might spike briefly near 4,000.
There are already 2,830 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. That is more troops than at any time since Canada first deployed infantry to Kandahar early in 2002 and fought ferocious battles against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in mountains near the Pakistan border.
Among the considerations influencing whether the Canadian army might make adjustments for the election was "how the fighting season evolves," Lt.-Gen. Gauthier said. Another factor is the possibility that the date of the election, which was originally planned for this spring, might change again.
"Could that affect the date of the troop rotations?" he asked rhetorically. "There is nothing immutable about this.... Clearly, in our RIP [relief-in-place] planning we must take into account operational planning for the election. That is an imperative."
Soldiers about to deploy to Kandahar from Valcartier, Que., with a battle group that is built around the Royal 22nd Regiment have spoken privately of having been warned recently that their usual six-month tours might be extended by about a month because of the election.
Some soldiers from Alberta who are part of the battle group that succeeds the Vandoo have speculated that they, too, might be in Afghanistan a little longer than usual.
"If Valcartier has warned its troops, and I don't know if they have, it was eminently sensible," said Lt.-Gen. Gauthier, whose own tour as the first commander of CEFCOM ends after 44 months in May. "We need to be open-minded about this."
The priority for Afghans, the international community and Canada was "a credible election," said the general, who previously held senior combat engineering and intelligence posts. "We are focused on setting the security conditions to make this happen."
The election is scheduled to occur as Canada is repositioning many of its combat troops from farming districts to the west of Kandahar to the outskirts of Kandahar City and the city itself as part of a NATO drive to bring more security to more heavily populated areas.
The Canadians who are moving closer to Kandahar City are to be replaced by U. S. forces as part of a surge of U. S. forces into southern Afghanistan that President Barack Obama is ordering to help Canadian, British
and Dutch troops counter the growing insurgency.
"We have an expectation of more U. S. forces in Kandahar and elsewhere in the south," Lt.-Gen. Gauthier said. "We have been spread too thin. My expectation is that this will allow us to concentrate geographically as we move ahead. There will be a growing focus on the people in and around Kandahar where 75% of the population lives."
A U. S. infantry battalion has already been working under Canadian command in western Kandahar since last summer. Canada had also acquired an ability to project "a more robust presence" with the recent arrival of 14 helicopters and better unmanned reconnaissance drones, Lt.-Gen. Gauthier said.
"More U. S. troops means more and better security," he said.
Last edited by digrar; 02-16-2009 at 01:29 AM.
Awesome vids, nice find. Pete is apart of that roto^
Those are not our "new" Chinooks. They are 6 old (and very worn) aircraft we got from the US until such time as our new model 'Hooks can be ready for delivery....Originally Posted by lachesis
Do you know when we will have the new chinooks? I haven't really seen much on them with a definitive date.
No one, from either the government, or DND, at any time, ever mentioned equipping CH-146's in Afghanistan with M134 MiniGuns. That was a media fantasy.
We do have a "limited number", they are currently undergoing evaluation, however they are not deployed in any official capacity.
The new E/O package does exist, and is fitted to the helicopters as the need arises. ( Not all missions require it)
Remember, never believe anything you read in the newspaper, or TV.. When it comes to the military, or military kit, the Canadian Media is perhaps the most ill-informed group you could possibly find.
Seriously, our media has no idea how to relate to the Military, and gets it's facts wrong on a consistant basis, and never tries to be accurate.
That's because we don't have the specs ironed out yet. (DND seems to want a hybrid, one that combines different aspects of a few versions., something like a cross between CH-47F and the MH-47G, with a dash of CSAR-X)
Cool videos, thanks for posting!
I read something like that on http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/ , great website of the future acquisition or opinion such the new CH-47F hybrid.
High tech vest aims to make mittens obsolete
Canadian military innovation holds potential for wide range of civilian uses
If there is one thing Canadians know, it's frozen fingers. With winter temperatures routinely dipping below the -30 C mark, digits devoid of feeling are a regular occurrence.
That's why the Canadian military has created a vest capable of keeping a person's fingers toasty in temperatures lower than -25 C without the need for mittens or gloves.
The military designed the vest to help mechanics work on vehicles in frigid temperatures or to allow medics to treat wounded soldiers without their fingers freezing up.
"We are taking a vest and providing extra heat to the body and because your body is running at its normal temperature, it's trying to dump that extra heat out the ends," said John Frim, a defence scientist with Defence R&D Canada in Toronto.
He added that it's almost poetic for Canadians to be pioneering this new technology and suggested that there is global interest in the product.
"Canada has been recognized as a country that knows how to deal with the cold," he said.
"We would hope to see this used in a lot more places. The military would be a small customer in terms of the applicability of this thing in the general population."
The vest, technically dubbed the Torso Heating for Dexterity in the Cold (THDC) Vest, works by heating a person's torso, which tricks the body into thinking that the wearer is overheating. In a bid to cool down, the body sends warm blood out into the wearer's extremities keeping fingers and toes warm without the need for layers.
It was created by Defence Research and Development Canada, a division of the Canadian military.
The vest has a built-in temperature gauge to ensure that the wearer does not truly overheat. A ring containing another temperature gauge is worn on a user's hand to allow the vest to adjust its heat settings automatically and ensure that the wearer's fingers are kept at a comfortable temperature.
The vest is powered either by a tether, or in situations that demand more mobility, it can also be powered with a rechargeable battery.
Darren Menabney, a business development officer at Defence Research and Development Canada, said the military is now searching for a partner that can begin production of the vests.
He said the potential for the device is huge. After some information about the device leaked out on the Internet, hundreds of people came up with new uses for the technology.
While he couldn't provide an exact time frame, Mr. Menabney expects it won't be long before the vest will be offered for sale in retailers such as Canadian Tire.
"After this got out online, and you see those comments, you realize the people out there have many ideas about potential uses for it. It's a good, flexible technology," said Mr. Menabney.
While the vest could be used by paramedics, police and engineers working on public utilities, it could equally be useful for homeowners putting up Christmas lights outdoors, who would no longer have to worry about numb hands.
Assuming there is no snow, motorcycle enthusiasts could extend their riding seasons into November as the vest could protect their hands and legs from the cold. Do-it-yourself mechanics would be able to fix their own cars in February without worrying about frostbite.
According to Mr. Frim, the military has tested prototypes of the vest in a cold chamber. Military personnel have spent as long as three hours wearing the vest in temperatures up to -25 C.
During their time in the cold chamber, soldiers were asked to take apart and reassemble their rifles. The soldiers were able to do so with no noticeable effects from the cold.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
1000 extra Canadian personal in Afghanistan for short period?
I don't like the Israeli made CU-170 HERON but far superior than the french made CU-161 SperwerOTTAWA — The British foreign minister described Afghanistan as a “stalemate,” and U.S. President Barack Obama’s new super envoy to the region called it a “mess.”
But Canadian Defence Minster Peter MacKay said Monday that real progress is being made in Afghanistan — allowing only that it is not coming as quickly as some might like.
MacKay also told the Commons defence committee the mission will cost an extra $331 million this year, a figure that had the Bloc Quebecois deriding Afghanistan as a fiscal “black hole” and the NDP questioning the escalating cost of the war as the world wages another battle against a sagging global economy.
“Yes, this is an expensive mission, an expensive undertaking on the part of our country,” MacKay told the all-party House of Commons panel.
“(If) we’re there to protect people and promote peace and freedom and security, and the promotion of quality of life for these people, then we are succeeding. At the rate that we would like? Perhaps not.”
As he has done at many previous committee appearances and in public speeches, MacKay again cited children — girls in particular — going back to school, program delivery, a polio eradication program, skills training, microfinance and road building as tangible signs of progress in the face of the growing Taliban insurgency that inflicted a record rate of violence on western soldiers and civilians in the last year.
But with the rising cost of the mission and the rising death and injury rate to Canadian soldiers, some opposition MPs criticized MacKay’s interpretation.
NDP defence critic Dawn Black noted the assessment by David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, who told BBC radio on Monday that western troops and the Taliban are trapped in a “strategic stalemate in parts of the country through their use of improvised explosive devices.”
Bloc Quebecois defence critic Claude Bachand bluntly told MacKay that, in his view, “not a great deal of progress” has been made in Afghanistan.
“We always challenged the rather rose-tinted vision that we were given,” Bechand said of past government briefings.
“This is simply a bottomless pit in which Canada is getting bogged down in terms of the money that we have to lay out.”
MacKay told the committee that $331 million of the $441 million in supplemental spending that the Defence Department required was for the Afghanistan mission. The overall defence budget is more than $18 billion.
MacKay had just returned from the major international security conference in Munich, Germany, on the weekend at which several top members of the Obama administration offered a downbeat assessment of Afghanistan.
“I’ve never seen anything like the mess we have inherited,” Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan told the international gathering. “In my view, it’s going to be much tougher than Iraq.”
Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton Accord that ended the Bosnian war, said, “there is no Dayton agreement in Afghanistan. It’s going to be a long, difficult struggle.”
MacKay told reporters after his testimony that he was sitting next to Holbrooke when he delivered that speech and that he didn’t interpret it as an indictment of progress in Afghanistan.
MacKay said he believed Holbrooke was commenting on “the previous American government’s efforts to co-ordinate their military and their diplomatic and humanitarian effort. He felt that it has not been co-ordinated. And that has been a problem, quite frankly, and I share the view.”
MacKay also said that he is not committed to the idea of having upwards of 1,000 extra Canadian Forces troops in Afghanistan for the August presidential elections. A senior Forces general said the military is considering a number of options to provide additional security during national elections this summer when Taliban activity is expected to spike.
“As is always the case, the military are very prepared; they would look at a full range of options that we would be able to provide, particularly during this election period. No decision has been taken as of yet,” MacKay told reporters after the hearing.
*****
CLARIFICATION: This story, which was originally published online on Monday, reported that a senior general said an extension of the Afghan mission of some Canadian troops was being considered during the national election this summer. While the general said contingency plans were being considered to provide security during the campaign, he did not specify an extension of the current troop rotation was under review.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Last edited by digrar; 02-16-2009 at 01:30 AM.
Couple of pics from combat camera.
Good pics boys keep them coming. I finally had it with partime soldiering, recently did my component transfer. Wish me luck gents.
Always great pics !
Welcome back again FNV.
Edit, pics messed up.
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