Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/1545837
www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2026 13 I N T E R V I E W CQ-9B Guardian. Photo: General Atomics P-8A Poseidon. Photo: KF Aerospace CC-330 Husky. Photo: DND prove our ability to operate in the North: better infrastructure, communications, and logistical support to enable a more persistent presence. The evolution of the threat means that we have to field both high-end capabili- ties like fighter aircraft, as well as more af- fordable mass capabilities like autonomous collaborative platforms, such as advanced drones, low-cost air-launched effects, af- fordable and overlapped sensors, and the advanced command and control systems to link all those sensors and shooters to be able to detect first, decide first, and act first. We still have a long way to go, but with this massive increase in defence spending, we're able to invest in a wide range of ar- eas to improve our lethality and our abil- ity to defend Canadians and our Canadian Armed Forces members wherever they might be operating. Q The RCAF has been wrestling with a shortage of qualified personnel for some time. What are you doing to address that and how will the RCAF training systems need to grow and adapt in the future to support a modernized RCAF? A shortage of personnel is something that plagues most Western militaries, and we've made some great progress from the lows of COVID over the last couple of years. Recent pay raises help, but we've also streamlined recruiting processes and ramped up our training capacity. Those things all take time, but we're accelerating in the right direction. Our Future Aircrew Training program is a partnership with SkyAlyne to deliver a completely overhauled aircrew training system. We've invested in five new fleets of training aircraft, with the new CT-102B Astra II now flying in Moose Jaw, the PC- 21/CT-157 Siskin II recently accepted at the Pilatus factory in Switzerland, and the CT-153 Juno helicopter most recently unveiled at CANSEC last month. We'll have new CT-142Q Citadel Dash-8s as our Air Combat Systems Officer and Air- borne Electronic Sensor Operator train- ing, as well as new CT-145E Expeditor II King Airs coming in Spring 2028. This The RCAF is replacing around 350 aircra - about 80% of our fleets - in the next decade.