Speeches

February 10, 2003

Speaking Notes
for
General Raymond Henault
Chief of the Defence Staff
At the
Air Force Officers Advisory Group Dinner
Ottawa, Ontario
February 10, 2003

Please Check Against Delivery

Général Comptois,
Mesdames et messieurs,

Je suis heureux d'être ici ce soir. Je suis d'ailleurs toujours content de me retrouver avec d'anciens collègues de la Force aérienne.

During my first address to this audience as Chief of the Defence Staff just over a year ago, I talked about my priorities for the Canadian Forces, including modernization and people.

And one year later, these remain among my top priorities.

So tonight I'd like to focus in on some of the challenges we've faced in these areas as well as some of the headway we've made.

First, however, I'd like to look back on our biggest mission of the past year: Operation Apollo.

We still have nearly 1,000 people deployed to the Arabian Gulf region, and we're at a point where we have a pretty good sense of what we did well and where we need to improve.

En ce qui concerne la Marine, 12 de nos navires ont été déployés dans le golfe Arabo Persique et en mer d'Arabie, et deux s'y trouvent toujours. Nos navires ont effectué des opérations de surveillance, de leadership et d'interdiction maritime, ont protégé les forces alliées et ont conduit des opérations de réapprovisionnement logistique.

Les navires canadiens ont également fourni de l'information essentielle à l'élaboration du tableau de la situation maritime pour la flotte de la coalition, grâce notamment aux données fournies par les aéronefs de patrouille Aurora et les hélicoptères Sea King embarqués.

Comme certains d'entre vous le savent déjà, nous sommes aussi la seule marine alliée à avoir opéré en tant que membres totalement intégrés d'un groupe aéronaval américain. Et, nous avons exécuté le commandement de forces navales multinationales dans la région à plusieurs reprises.

Our Navy has also conducted almost half of all hailings and 52% of all ship boardings carried out by coalition warships.

I expect you are all quite familiar with the role our land forces played in the campaign.

Just to recap though, in the course of their six-month deployment to Afghanistan, the members of the 3PPCLI Battle Group (including a component from Winnipeg) provided security for the Kandahar airfield, conducted offensive operations, explored sensitive sites and supported humanitarian aid operations.

We also had a very capable special operations element in Afghanistan, which, as you know, we don't talk much about -- but I can assure you that they provided exceptionally good support to the coalition.

I'm sure this audience is most interested in the role our Air Force has been playing in this campaign. Our air personnel have definitely been busy.

We have deployed both Airbus and Hercules aircraft for strategic and tactical airlift over the course of the last year.

While in theatre, our Airbus aircraft flew 578.7 hours, and carried a total of 2,265 passengers and 7.5 million pounds of freight.

Our Hercules aircraft, which are still in region, have carried some 5,400 passengers and over 10 million pounds of freight with a 92% mission completion rate.

The Auroras have been equally busy with a wide range of surveillance operations. They have been flying every day, for a total of some 3,300 flight hours and a mission completion rate of 98%.

Our Sea Kings continue to be very active on this mission, and they too have had an excellent mission success rate.

While the campaign is definitely not over yet, it's safe to say that Operation Apollo has been a very effective mission.

Mais malgré nos nombreux succès, notre expérience a permis de recenser un certain nombre de faiblesses. Bien que nous étions conscients de ces lacunes avant cette mission, leur correction a pris une importance accrue.

Par exemple, notre expérience a démontré qu'il est difficile de déployer des forces dans le cadre de plusieurs missions internationales, tout en continuant de nous acquitter de nos engagements au pays.

Un autre défi qui va de pair avec le précédent est la soutenabilité de nos engagements une fois que nous sommes dans le théâtre. Le Ministre et moi avons été très francs à ce sujet lorsque nous n'avons pas remplacé nos forces terrestres à Kandahar.

Another area that remains problematic, despite the new investments we have made, is communications technology -- and the ability to share information with our allies.

The United States have leapt ahead of most of us in terms of their level of technology. This makes it a challenge to ensure the kind of seamless sharing of information that is so vital to coalition operations.

Now, for the good news. Our experience in Operation Apollo also highlighted and reinforced many of our strengths.

Although we have a relatively small force, the high quality of our training means that our personnel are very skilled, which obviously serves us well on any international or coalition operation.

We also benefit from our extensive experience in multinational peace support operations.

Finally, this mission, like many others, further improved our interoperability with allies. As I mentioned, we were the only coalition member to operate as integrated members of a US carrier battle group. We have carried very significant command responsibilities at sea, and we worked very well with our allies on the ground.

Preparing for, and deploying to, Op Apollo has obviously been one of our bigger challenges, but it hasn't been the only one.

As I said when I spoke to you last year, putting people first is one of my top priorities and it remains so today.

It's the right thing to do, and it just makes sense when you consider that our soldiers, sailors and air personnel are the lifeblood of the Canadian Forces. We simply cannot afford to have them injured, improperly cared for or burned out.

One key issue, as I'm sure you know, is the stress that the high operational tempo places on our men and women in uniform and their families.

We are taking action wherever possible to address this problem.

For example, we have drawn down our troops in Bosnia, reducing the size of our contingent by nearly 300 people last fall. And as I mentioned earlier, we decided not to rotate a battle group into Afghanistan last summer.

We are also lessening the strain of the high operational tempo by:

• contracting out certain support functions;
• supporting, wherever possible, an early in/early out approach to operations; and
• enhancing the ability of the Reserves to support operations. In fact, an all-Reserve company deployed to Bosnia with the last rotation in October, for the first time in nearly a decade. And having visited the unit in Dravr at Christmas time, I can attest to how well they are doing in deployed operations.

At the same time, we continue to put people first by moving ahead on a number of quality of life issues, such as the military health care system, compensation and benefits, family support and conditions of service.

Another important element when it comes to taking care of our people is education. We have to make sure they have the mental tools necessary for modern military operations.

And we're doing this by promoting a learning culture at all ranks.

Après tout, les connaissances et la pensée critique peuvent être aussi indispensables que la bonne pièce d'équipement.

C'est pourquoi nous augmentons le nombre de militaires ayant fait des études postsecondaires. Nous élaborons de nouveaux cours et programmes d'instruction. Et nous avons créé l'Académie canadienne de la Défense dans le but d'assurer une stratégie à long terme coordonnée pour notre système d'éducation.

Ensemble, ces initiatives devraient permettre d'accroître la satisfaction au travail, ce qui aura une incidence positive sur le recrutement et le maintien des effectifs.

The challenges of the past year haven't been limited to operations and personnel.

Obviously, our members need to be armed with more than good training and high-quality education. They also need the hardware, technology and equipment to do the job. Which is why modernization is an important element of the Canadian Forces agenda.

And this fits in with a new focus that I have encouraged for the Canadian Forces on the operational quality of life. This means providing the Forces with the equipment and a level of interoperability that not only improves the operational capability of the organization, but also increases the pride and satisfaction that comes with doing an excellent job.

I talked about some of our new equipment and systems last year, and I understand the Chief of the Air Staff recently talked to you about modernization programs in his area.

At this point, I can say with confidence that we've made some good investments -- investments that are proving their worth in the field.

Now, we have to continue focusing on what equipment we need, and just as importantly -- what equipment we don't need -- to respond to the challenges of the emerging security environment.

We know, for example, that interoperability must continue to be a focus of our modernization efforts.

We also know that we have to find a means of enhancing deployability; for example, by making the right arrangements with service providers or allies (or improving our own ability to project our forces both at home and abroad).

And, of course, we have to make sure that our planning continues to take the changing strategic environment into account, including the threat of terrorist attacks and weapons of mass destruction.

With the new funding provided in the last budget of December 2001, we've been able to take some action to strengthen our response to the threat of terrorism.

To give you just a few examples:

• we're expanding the capabilities of our special operations force JTF-2;
• we are enhancing signals intelligence and computer network defence; and
• we've initiated the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Project to strengthen our military capability in preventing and responding to these kinds of incidents.
• In fact, the NBC Response Company, which is located in Trenton, achieved IOC just prior to Christmas and has now assumed responsibility for domestic response to NBC threats.

We're hoping, of course, that the upcoming federal budget will provide Defence with additional funds to assist in our modernization efforts and to meet other challenges facing the Forces.

But quite frankly, it's not just about money. In fact, moving forward on people requirements or on modernization initiatives also depends on the support and advocacy of organizations such as the Air Force Officers Advisory Group. Your interest is very much appreciated.

En terminant, je dirais que même si nous avons eu à relever plusieurs défis l'an dernier - certains nouveaux, d'autres non - les choses marchent quand même assez bien pour nous.

Nous sommes conscients de nos faiblesses et nous sommes déterminés à les surmonter.

Nous sommes confiants en notre capacité de continuer à intervenir lorsqu'on nous sollicite simultanément dans différents endroits, et nous préparons les Forces canadiennes pour demain.

And above all, we, like you, are proud of our men and women in uniform for their commitment to service and their excellent record in promoting Canadian interests and values around the world.

Thank you. Merci.