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Canadian military faces collapse and a generation of rebuilding, says study
at 19:34 on December 2, 2003, EST.
JOHN WARD
OTTAWA (CP) - Years of penny-pinching have left the Canadian Forces on the brink of collapse and it could take an entire generation to recover, a bleak Queen‘s University study warns.
The document tells the incoming Paul Martin government that it is about to walk into a disaster, with a military that can‘t be used because of shortages of people and equipment. "The problem will rapidly disarm foreign policy as Canada repeatedly backs away from international commitments because it lacks adequate military forces," said the report, entitled Canada Without Armed Forces?, released Wednesday.
It says the problems can‘t be solved overnight, because it takes years to purchase major weapons systems and years to train combat-ready soldiers, sailors and flyers.
"There is not much Canadians can do to save this situation, at least not in the term of the next government or even the government after that," the report says. "The descending slope is too steep and it will take too long to turn it upwards for tomorrow‘s government to benefit from altered policies."
The new government can only start the recovery, but the report says the recovery has to start now if there is to be any hope of restoring the military.
The study was a collaboration between the School of Policy Studies at Queens and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, an independent defence think-tank.
It outlines major problems hobbling the military, including rusting equipment, aging infrastructure and imbalance in the ranks.
For years, the brass tried to deal with government budget cuts by robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now Peter and Paul are both broke.
Capital budgets were raided to support operations. It was a case of paying for today by mortgaging the future, but the future is now here and there‘s no money to buy new transport planes, new vehicles and high-tech weapons.
The report estimates that capital needs over the next five years will fall $15 billion short of what‘s needed.
The air force is likely to lose the oldest half of its C-130 transport fleet, without replacements, while the navy will end up without replenishment ships or replacements for its big destroyers with their anti-aircraft missiles. The army will have problems replacing its heavy truck fleet, which is grinding toward the junkyard.
"The effect on CF operational capabilities will be the complete loss of logistics sealift, airlift and landlift," the paper says.
The ability to meet the modest requirements of the 1994 defence white paper and conduct modest overseas operations with the help of allies "will disappear within the immediate time-frame."
The paper noted that life-extension programs can refit ships and planes for a few extra years of service, but they add crippling maintenance and operations costs.
There‘s more bad news in the makeup of the Forces, the authors say.
Scrimping over the last decade, as defence spending was cut by 23 per cent, left recruitment at the whim of the budget process. In good years, the military would sign people up. In bad years, recruiting was ignored.
That has left serious imbalances in the ranks in terms of age and experience. Some technical trades are desperate for people and can‘t find them, while other specialities have a surplus.
The military has a personnel ceiling of 60,000, but that includes every last person in uniform. However, at any time, about 10,000 of those uniforms are people who can‘t be used - those on sick leave and retirement leave, those in training schools and every last raw recruit.
at 19:34 on December 2, 2003, EST.
JOHN WARD
OTTAWA (CP) - Years of penny-pinching have left the Canadian Forces on the brink of collapse and it could take an entire generation to recover, a bleak Queen‘s University study warns.
The document tells the incoming Paul Martin government that it is about to walk into a disaster, with a military that can‘t be used because of shortages of people and equipment. "The problem will rapidly disarm foreign policy as Canada repeatedly backs away from international commitments because it lacks adequate military forces," said the report, entitled Canada Without Armed Forces?, released Wednesday.
It says the problems can‘t be solved overnight, because it takes years to purchase major weapons systems and years to train combat-ready soldiers, sailors and flyers.
"There is not much Canadians can do to save this situation, at least not in the term of the next government or even the government after that," the report says. "The descending slope is too steep and it will take too long to turn it upwards for tomorrow‘s government to benefit from altered policies."
The new government can only start the recovery, but the report says the recovery has to start now if there is to be any hope of restoring the military.
The study was a collaboration between the School of Policy Studies at Queens and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, an independent defence think-tank.
It outlines major problems hobbling the military, including rusting equipment, aging infrastructure and imbalance in the ranks.
For years, the brass tried to deal with government budget cuts by robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now Peter and Paul are both broke.
Capital budgets were raided to support operations. It was a case of paying for today by mortgaging the future, but the future is now here and there‘s no money to buy new transport planes, new vehicles and high-tech weapons.
The report estimates that capital needs over the next five years will fall $15 billion short of what‘s needed.
The air force is likely to lose the oldest half of its C-130 transport fleet, without replacements, while the navy will end up without replenishment ships or replacements for its big destroyers with their anti-aircraft missiles. The army will have problems replacing its heavy truck fleet, which is grinding toward the junkyard.
"The effect on CF operational capabilities will be the complete loss of logistics sealift, airlift and landlift," the paper says.
The ability to meet the modest requirements of the 1994 defence white paper and conduct modest overseas operations with the help of allies "will disappear within the immediate time-frame."
The paper noted that life-extension programs can refit ships and planes for a few extra years of service, but they add crippling maintenance and operations costs.
There‘s more bad news in the makeup of the Forces, the authors say.
Scrimping over the last decade, as defence spending was cut by 23 per cent, left recruitment at the whim of the budget process. In good years, the military would sign people up. In bad years, recruiting was ignored.
That has left serious imbalances in the ranks in terms of age and experience. Some technical trades are desperate for people and can‘t find them, while other specialities have a surplus.
The military has a personnel ceiling of 60,000, but that includes every last person in uniform. However, at any time, about 10,000 of those uniforms are people who can‘t be used - those on sick leave and retirement leave, those in training schools and every last raw recruit.
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