Canada to Spend $5.0Bil on AEW Aircraft

[Oldgateboatdriver]

There is a good highway: Highway 13. It only needed about 6 more Km at the YMX end, but that was also put on hold as a result of the "temporary freeze" I mentioned above.

BTW, one of my uncles was ADM Air Transportation at the time and told me that the department's numbers indicated that a "hub" as they were then being envisioned was found to be too big for either Montreal or Toronto. The department's view was that it should be built at Kingston, with high speed rail service to downtown Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. The plan was overridden by politicians so that both Montreal and Toronto would get their hub. Mirabel got first dibs, and Toronto saw the mess they made of its inception and refused to get theirs.

 

[Good2Golf]

In the end, that is what killed it. Which, BTW, is the reason I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for all the Montreal West Island residents that are bitching about the noise from Dorval these days: You had your chance and then blew it by refusing to let it happen.

Didn’t seem to bother all the friends of PET who bought farmland there years earlier and were expropriated at ‘fair market value’

Not I (sympathy)

Theoretically, I live beside a flight path, but like roads, rail, etc. I don’t hear it. Whiners gonna whine, though.

The refusal to find infra to join the two airports (YUL and YMX) also played a significant role - no good highways, no rail...

Strange that that wasn’t in the estimate space at the time…or even widening the 13 and 25. If the YMX project had held PRBs back in the day, this would be the head of the table…

 

[FSTO]

Terminal-to-Downtown high speed train that was to do the trip in 20 minutes.

Canada has been talking about highspeed rail since 19 freeking 67! Almost 60 years! Just think if we had made the decision and started building it then....... Just like Manitoba and building overpasses on the TCH. They've been talking about it for 60 years as well. If they built just one every 5 years we would have been done all 8 or 9 by now.

This bloody country sometimes...........

 

[YZT580]

I keep telling you people: Mirabel has tons of room. On the North side of Montreal, so reasonable rental / housing market, and within easy reach of loads of employment for spouses / family. Bonus: easy commuting to all the activities in Montreal.

but only if you are bilingual. Where will you find 60 or more candidates to fly B737s that want to move their families into an area where the kids can't go to school in English and where your spouse can't get a job unless they are fluent in french? the DND doesn't run an on-base school system any more that I am aware of.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

The CAF is an exempt group for school and so the kids can be enrolled in English schools. Moreover, there are many jobs available even for English speakers.

 

[Maxman1]

Toronto has that, too.

 

[KevinB]

Would be nice to re-open Summerside, and find a good spot in Vancouver Island for a West Coast spot.

Tofino/Long Beach Airport appears via Google Earth to be able to be expanded by at least 1,000m on the North South runway, and the NW/SE runway, the W/E strip would only be able to be expanded to the East by 500m or so, and unless one expropriated land nothing significant to the West.

I hear the surfing is good near there - so you’d have a good QoL of looking for that. Maybe a soon to be retired PM would like it too

 

[daftandbarmy]

Canada has been talking about highspeed rail since 19 freeking 67! Almost 60 years! Just think if we had made the decision and started building it then....... Just like Manitoba and building overpasses on the TCH. They've been talking about it for 60 years as well. If they built just one every 5 years we would have been done all 8 or 9 by now.

This bloody country sometimes...........

In contrast, China likes Canada's high speed rail

Bombardier’s Joint Venture Wins Contract to Build 40 High-Speed Train Cars for China​

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced today that its Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST), has been awarded another contract from China Railway Corp. (CRC) to supply 40 CRH1A-A new generation high-speed train cars to the Nanning Railway Bureau.

The new trains will become part of the ongoing integration of Guangxi’s regional high-speed railways into the national high-speed network. This new contract for five eight-car trainsets is valued at approximately 543 million Chinese RMBs (€73m, $79m US) and follows a separate contract for 144 high-speed carsannounced by the JV in early March.

Bombardier owns 50% of the shares in BST, and the JV is controlled by BT’s partner CRRC Sifang Co., Ltd. This latest contract is the fourteenth high-speed train order that BST has been awarded since 2004.

Bombardier’s Joint Venture Wins Contract to Build 40 High-Speed Train Cars for China

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced today that its Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST), has been…

www.railway-technology.com

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Would be nice to re-open Summerside, and find a good spot in Vancouver Island for a West Coast spot.

Tofino/Long Beach Airport appears via Google Earth to be able to be expanded by at least 1,000m on the North South runway, and the NW/SE runway, the W/E strip would only be able to be expanded to the East by 500m or so, and unless one expropriated land nothing significant to the West.

I hear the surfing is good near there - so you’d have a good QoL of looking for that. Maybe a soon to be retired PM would like it too

Land around there is at a premium thanks to the Park, I want to go back in time and smack myself for not buying a lot, that I was offered for $6,000, that was lot of beer I thought back then. Man was I dumb sometimes......

 

[Good2Golf]

In contrast, China likes Canada's high speed rail

Bombardier’s Joint Venture Wins Contract to Build 40 High-Speed Train Cars for China​

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced today that its Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST), has been awarded another contract from China Railway Corp. (CRC) to supply 40 CRH1A-A new generation high-speed train cars to the Nanning Railway Bureau.

The new trains will become part of the ongoing integration of Guangxi’s regional high-speed railways into the national high-speed network. This new contract for five eight-car trainsets is valued at approximately 543 million Chinese RMBs (€73m, $79m US) and follows a separate contract for 144 high-speed carsannounced by the JV in early March.

Bombardier owns 50% of the shares in BST, and the JV is controlled by BT’s partner CRRC Sifang Co., Ltd. This latest contract is the fourteenth high-speed train order that BST has been awarded since 2004.

Bombardier’s Joint Venture Wins Contract to Build 40 High-Speed Train Cars for China

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced today that its Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST), has been…

www.railway-technology.com

Train cars outfitted with the NHT (Nortel Huawei Technologies) 5G telecom system, no doubt.

 

[SupersonicMax]

but only if you are bilingual. Where will you find 60 or more candidates to fly B737s that want to move their families into an area where the kids can't go to school in English and where your spouse can't get a job unless they are fluent in french? the DND doesn't run an on-base school system any more that I am aware of.

That sounds familiar for the vast majority of French-speaking military families posted in English-Speaking communities!

 

[dapaterson]

That sounds familiar for the vast majority of French-speaking military families posted in English-Speaking communities!

Don't be ridiculous. Lac Froid is totally a French community.

 

[YZT580]

The CAF is an exempt group for school and so the kids can be enrolled in English schools. Moreover, there are many jobs available even for English speakers.

Except that there is only one english school in Saint Jerome which limits your choices for places to live. As for working, nurses for example have 4 years only in which to qualify in french. Most other government trades are the same or even worse which limits your career choices just a little bit.

 

[KevinB]

That sounds familiar for the vast majority of French-speaking military families posted in English-Speaking communities!

IIRC no other province has language ‘protection’ like La Belle Province…

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

You don’t need to, Kevin, when you don’t have French schools or French workplaces, “protection” of your language by forcing people to use English institutions is irrelevant.

 

[YZT580]

You don’t need to, Kevin, when you don’t have French schools or French workplaces, “protection” of your language by forcing people to use English institutions is irrelevant.

too true which is why the only way to bilingualism is through the public school system and that is a multi-year project; otherwise language remains ghettoized.

 

[Cloud Cover]

These suggestions are all substantially more expensive than simply using an existing MOB, upgrading it and using Reg F personnel. Also, the air weapons trade is massively expensive to the CAF. Half that group (sub trade of AEC) is in Tinker or Geilerkirchen sucking up all kind of foreign service benefits. When we set up our own AEW capability, whatever the frame, most of those positions are moving home. That is an easy savings of $20-40k per position per year.

The whole dea here is to show that we are spending a lot of money on defence, not actually defending. So these base costs, while a decent consideration, are secondary. The procurement seems to be about how much money can be spent and the big clue is the bizarre numbers of 3- 5 aircraft. Where did that come from? Likely not enough in numbers to have one in the air more than a few hours per week.

FWIW I despised Edmonton, but some of that was because I really liked Calgary, and the fact you could be climbing around Canmore inside of 45min. Again I also liked Petawawa. So YMMV.

.. you wouldn’t like Calgary or Redmonton now….

 

[dimsum]

Would be nice to re-open Summerside, and find a good spot in Vancouver Island for a West Coast spot.

Tofino/Long Beach Airport appears via Google Earth to be able to be expanded by at least 1,000m on the North South runway, and the NW/SE runway, the W/E strip would only be able to be expanded to the East by 500m or so, and unless one expropriated land nothing significant to the West.

I hear the surfing is good near there - so you’d have a good QoL of looking for that. Maybe a soon to be retired PM would like it too

They would need to vastly expand Hwy 4 (they won’t) and actually build anywhere near there for housing. A 2h commute to Port Alberni for housing, then another 2-ish hour commute to Parksville for anything more than your basic groceries isn’t my idea of a long-term solution. And I love the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Hwy 4 as it currently stands gets blocked in every so often by rockslides or accidents. That is the only way in and out of the west side of Vancouver Island.

The whole dea here is to show that we are spending a lot of money on defence, not actually defending. So these base costs, while a decent consideration, are secondary. The procurement seems to be about how much money can be spent and the big clue is the bizarre numbers of 3- 5 aircraft. Where did that come from? Likely not enough in numbers to have one in the air more than a few hours per week.

AEW aircraft aren’t necessarily on constant patrol unless you’re in an active conflict.

 

[Zoomie]

The only Van Isle option would be Comox. Tofino isn’t even a wet dream.

Comox is out out the running for MOB West due to infrastructure costs and sacrificing the golf course.

We don’t need to position our AEW near a coast. USAF has its majority of E3 living in the central state of Oklahoma. We would fly each day to the coasts or wherever the exercises were running and then RTB each day. Deployments were a one stop flight from OKC to CENTCOM with good use of tanker support and extra crew.

 

[Good2Golf]

Comox is out out the running for MOB West due to infrastructure costs and sacrificing the golf course.

Yup, Zoomie. Prioritize the issues….