Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 06/01) - Canada's military used to be one of the most arctic-capable forces in the world. Today, it would be hard-pressed to field an effective force.

That's the sobering conclusion of the Arctic Capabilities Study, completed by the Department of National Defence last December. And at Canadian Forces Northern Area headquarters in Yellowknife, the military's ability to sustain operations in the event of an emergency would be put to the test.

"Our limit of endurance here is seven days," says Maj. Bob Knight, CFNA's operations officer. "After that, we're toast."

To run the headquarters' new command centre would require pulling in the personnel from throughout Yellowknife, including cadet duty officers and soldiers of 1 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, who are based at the city airport's Forward Operating Location.

"All 100 people in the area will be cobbled together to produce an operational headquarters with shifts of 12 (hours) on, 12 off." In the "off hours" people would be expected to fulfil their regular duties that now take up an entire day.

That could prove difficult, says Knight, because a number of personnel have two or three jobs.

His blunt assessment explains why one of the key recommendations in the Arctic Capabilities Study is an expansion of the number of personnel by 18.

Some of those people are on their way.

"What they've given us is the capability to undouble-hat some of those positions," says Knight. He notes that they've specifically requested naval officers, one in intelligence and one in planning, to make the headquarters a true joint command involving all three branches of the Canadian Forces.

Improving arctic abilities

While giving headquarters the people and equipment it needs to carry out its duties, the military still has to do a better job of keeping an eye on the North.

"We have moved from a position where virtually every infantryman and a sizeable portion of the membership of the other combat arms had personal experience in such operations to a posture where few junior personnel across the forces have ever experienced the Arctic in an operational context," says the study.

Of concern is the military's ability to get personnel into the field.

Only one kind of heavy transport aircraft is suitable, the Hercules, and there are just 10 landing strips in the NWT, Nunavut and Yukon that can accommodate it.

Moving around the field of operations would also prove challenging. While soldiers could use snowshoes and toboggans and armoured personnel carriers, the military's main tactical helicopter, the CH 146 Griffon, cannot operate at temperatures below -20 C.

As well, soldiers need to learn how to work in the North. The study recommends two ways of doing that: increase the number of sovereignty operations involving company-sized southern military units and establish an arctic warfare and survival school in Yellowknife.

The school would require a small group of personnel with a variety of vehicles and equipment. Eventually, the study says, the school could expand to offer training to other countries and would "ensure that the CF preserves its dwindling Arctic capability."

Part of that capability would include a ship capable of operating in the seasonal ice pack, one that could be used as a mobile platform for Arctic Ocean deployment

Other recommendations include renovating the CFNA headquarters to allow for additional personnel and intelligence and information-gathering equipment, expanding the airlift capacity by establishing lease or charter arrangements with private firms, and improving relationships and information sharing with other agencies.

Eyes in space, ears underwater

While putting people into remote locations has been the primary method of demonstrating Canadian sovereignty, the study has called for improving the ability to monitor the Arctic.

Among the tools available for that task are surveillance satellites and "a combination of Canadian commercial and American military vehicles."

It also calls for surface radar stations at entrances to navigable straits and a sonar network at approaches to the Northwest Passage.

That alone won't do the job however, and the report recommends having ice-capable ships within the navy and Coast Guard and fitting the country's new Victoria-class submarines with "air independent propulsion systems" that would enable them to operate beneath the polar ice cap.