Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 05/05) - Measured against the weather on Ellef Ringness Island, the Canadian military's capability was a "glass, only half-full," according to Col. Norman Couturier.

The commander of Canadian Forces Northern Area ordered a report on the April sovereignty mission that was weathered in at an abandoned weather station on the Isachsen Peninsula, 150 km from the North Pole.

Prepared by Capt. Don Finnamore, the report said the mission was more than some personnel were trained or equipped to handle, and pointed to Yellowknife's 440 Squadron and its Twin Otters.

"Squadron members don't have a lot of experience nor the proper equipment to be deployed for any length of time in severe winter condition," Finnamore wrote.

"The ski-equipped Twin Otter could not provide the necessary support to the operation due to the environmental conditions, the long flying distances and the limitations of the aircraft with skis."

Finnamore said the mission was marked by "over confidence" based on familiarity with Resolute Bay and an "underestimate" of the severity and harshness of conditions on the remote island in Nunavut.

"If this type of operation is to be conducted in the future and 440 Squadron is to be deployed into austere conditions, they will require additional equipment, personnel and training," he wrote.

Couturier said the military is looking at two potential successors to the Twin Otter, the C27J Spartan and the Casa 295, military transports capable of landing on short runways.

"That's in the last federal budget: an aircraft for the Arctic," he said.

Test Twin Otter

"We wanted to test the Twin Otter because it is the only aircraft totally dedicated to the Arctic."

Weather stalled the exercise and forced the patrol of 14 Canadian Rangers, nine regular force members and six Otter crew to shelter in two trailers. A simulated air crash rescue was aborted and sorties to nearby islands were cut from five to two.

"But we did get there," Couturier said. "In an emergency we could mount an operation, so that's the positive," he said, emphasizing that in "an exercise the main thing is safety. If lives are in danger or to be saved it's a different issue. Then you might want to take more chances."

Couturier said that in a real life situation, "we would require some assistance from south of 60, from other assets in the Canadian Forces" at rescue co-ordination centres in Victoria, Trenton and Halifax.

Couturier estimated the cost of the Ellef Ringness patrol at $700,000, and said it was one of the more expensive of the more than 200 exercises the military will undertake this year in the Arctic.