6 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 www.vanguardcanada.com
S
SIT REP
LACK OF VISION:
FORCE MULTIPLIER OR DIVIDER?
NATO intervened in the civil war in Libya. France intervened in the Islamist surge in Mali. We are conduct-
ing air operations over Iraq and Syria, while training the Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces. The moment for
military, industry and government officials to take a breath and plan for the next major operation really
has not taken place.
Is this an issue? Without an assessment of the last engagement, how that has affected our military
and how our opponents have shifted their strategies and technologies, we are adrift at sea. Although
Canada must always prepare itself for the possibility of conventional war, we also have to face the reality
that asymmetrical conflicts will be the norm for the future.
How we approach these conflicts depends not just on policy and strategy, but obviously the tech-
nology and equipment that is built around it. Since the last chapter of the Cold War, the West's focus
was using technology as a force multiplier to counter the Soviets who had an overwhelming numerical
superiority.
Of course, the Soviet threat and the Cold War are no more. One may point to the current conflict in
Ukraine; but that should not drive us into thinking that we have to commit our defence budget to prepare
for a conventional war with Russia; rather, we have to face the reality that methods have changed. The
emergence of a "hybrid-war" is not a new, it is just an evolved and refined concept of a proxy-war.
Canada and its
allies are experiencing
deployment fatigue
from over a decade in
Afghanistan. But, the
matter of fact is that
we are still conduct-
ing other operations.
Stewart Webb is the editor of DefenceReport
and is widely published on Canadian defence and
foreign affairs topics. He holds an MScEcon in
Security Studies from Aberystwyth University and a
BA in Political Science from Acadia University.
Then-Defence Minister Peter MacKay announces that Canada has chosen
the F-35 as Canada's future fighter. Photo: Cpl Darcy Lefebvre.
