AOR Replacement & the Joint Support Ship (Merged Threads)

[Prairie canuck]

It's of significantly more use outside the Arctic increasing our global presence and capabilities.

We have a lot more pressing issues than the Arctic. Politicians will mention Arctic sovereignty, but in real terms it's an afterthought and niche capability.

Even the AOPS have spent more time patrolling the Caribbean than the Arctic. Focusing on a lens of "everything must be Arctic capable" misses the point. And if something really went down, we would fly troops up to Iqualuit or Alert.

So if the Russians or Chinese decide to "claim" Borden Island or Mackenzie King island or Prince Patrick Island etc (and don't say they wouldn't, it is what they've done in many other locales) and set up a token base to solidify that claim what can troops in Iqaluit or even Alert do? Unless there's updated airports able to handle C17's then how else do you get there? Or do we whine and beg the US to defend us...... again..

 

[Maxman1]

So if the Russians or Chinese decide to "claim" Borden Island or Mackenzie King island or Prince Patrick Island etc (and don't say they wouldn't, it is what they've done in many other locales) and set up a token base to solidify that claim what can troops in Iqaluit or even Alert do? Unless there's updated airports able to handle C17's then how else do you get there? Or do we whine and beg the US to defend us...... again..

Alert is C-17 capable. We fly them in twice a year for Op Boxtop.

Operation BOXTOP - Canada.ca

A mission to bring supplies to Canadian Forces Station Alert.

www.canada.ca

Troops would be landed by helicopter either way, whether from ships or out of Alert or Iqaluit. And if the Russians did manage a foothold, we would airstrike them by fighter jet.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Alert is C-17 capable. We fly them in twice a year for Op Boxtop.

Operation BOXTOP - Canada.ca

A mission to bring supplies to Canadian Forces Station Alert.

www.canada.ca

Troops would be landed by helicopter either way, whether from ships or out of Alert or Iqaluit. And if the Russians did manage a foothold, we would airstrike them by fighter jet.

They are more likely to land "Civilian Researchers" with armed "guards" to protect them from polar bears, penguins and unicorns.

Where are our troops, helicopters going to come from? Where is the fuel and food to sustain them in the field coming from? The Russian and Chinese can get there by their larger icebreakers long before any of ours can get up there. They could have 2-3 months headstart.

 

[Maxman1]

They are more likely to land "Civilian Researchers" with armed "guards" to protect them from polar bears, penguins and unicorns.

Yes, and? That would be very obvious what they're attempting, which would be a colossal failure on our part to allow it to happen.

Where are our troops, helicopters going to come from? Where is the fuel and food to sustain them in the field coming from?

Again, Alert has those facilities. It would be a straightforward matter to transport everything there on a turbocharged Boxtop. There's also Yellowknife. And we have tankers for extended range.

The Russian and Chinese can get there by their larger icebreakers long before any of ours can get up there. They could have 2-3 months headstart.

Which is why any response based around ships would be doomed to fail. We have fighter jets carrying land attack cruise missiles and the new P-8 will carry Harpoon anti-surface missile. We also have a surveillance network, which would reveal something like that almost immediately. We have the technical capability to find and destroy anything someone puts in our Arctic that we don't want, we're not stuck in the period of the Battle of the Denmark Strait when it comes to searching for enemy ships.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Your going to take out a "Civilian" icebreaker loaded with "Civilians" with Anti-ship missiles, yep that's going to happen in Canada, for sure.....

More likley a strongly worded letter to the UN and confronting their ambassador. That's assuming we realize they are even there.

 

[GK .Dundas]

As much as the Government loves to issue press releases about what a wonderful job they're doing on Surveillance . There are gaps and pretty large one's.
Some of those are on our border with the Americans.
A lot more of them are in the Far North..
We're closing those gaps and every year they get a little smaller. However there will always be surprises. Historically the best/ worst example may be the infamous German weather station on the Labrador coast. Which was only discovered when a German pensioner wrote the Canadian Government asking for any documentation they might have in order to bolster his claim. That was in the 90s .