Canadian Power: The Canadian Forces as a Major Power

[TheMann]

I have to agree with this as much as I don't want to. Announcing that we would be building the Arrow would be like the Brits deciding to now build the TSR2 or the US deciding to build the B-70. The first reaction would be laughter followed by more laughter. The industry has moved on.

Laughter from the industry, nothing but praise from most Canucks for rectifying one of the biggest industrial injustices and mistakes in Canadian history. And the industry here means less than public opinion, because the public opinion is directly connected to this project's success. (And BTW, the Brits seriously studied resuscitating the TSR.2 project in the early 80s IOTL.) Here, the industry hasn't got the skills to do something from scratch. So, you take a design you already know works and make it fly again, just to get the skills back working, then go for the brass ring and build a first-class fighter. There will only be a couple dozen built, just to get everybody warmed up and the infrastructure there again on a fairly easy project. The Brits and Americans never allowed a government decision to implode their defense industry. (Though Britain tried several times......) Canada did, and now the whole point of the Arrow project is not to build a front-line fighter for the CF so much as a PR tool and base project that just so happens to also be a fighter jet.

Now if Canada announced that we would be developing our own fighter/strike aircraft which will be called the Arrow II, that would be different. In this timeline given the money spent on the forces it would be seen as expensive but possible - something along the lines of " well if Sweden can do it....".

I am planning to have Canada have a much greater involvement in future fighter projects, as time goes on.

As to selling the idea, that's different. I would expect to see lots of "spontaneous" documentaries about the original Arrow and extensive use of photos. The governments line would be "We did it once and we can do it again. Aerospace is part of our heritage". Pushing the right nationalistic buttons would ensure lots of support for the program.

And pushing those buttons here will be ridiculously easy just because of the fact that the Arrow is a part of Canada's history, almost synonomous with "government mistake" here.

To mmmeee0: Yes. And as a result, CF troops will end up in Afghanistan.

 

[TheMann]

OOC: Alright, I'm canning the Arrow project. That said, it's successor, on the other hand, is going to get underway......

 

[TheMann]

OOC: Alright, trying again......

1999 (Part 1)
1999 was the last year of the 20th Century, and it would for the Canadian Forces be forever referred to as the "Year of Destiny". With a name like that, one would expect it to be a big, important year, and so it was.

The biggest events of the year began in January, when a group of Canadian aerospace engineers, many of them having experience with Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier and others, formed a small consulting company in Toronto, named the Canada Defense Aerospace Company. The company's name was of course a harbringer to what was to come.

In March, this small group submitted a proposal to Gordon O'Connor, a former Brigadier and now the deputy Minister of National Defense. The case the company made was that the Canadian Forces had built a substantial electronics industry partly as a result of the rebuilding of HMCS Warrior and the upgrades to many aircraft, along with a growing industry building other products that catered to the Forces, and that the country could easily build many of its own aircraft and military gear. And the proposal that the company specifically focused on was a new fighter for Canada, to be developed entirely in Canada.

The idea would go in three stages. Stage I would be the build of a fighter design, using a proprietary design but with off-the-shelf internals, to prove that the concept could fly. Stage II would add a new engine program, while Stage III would go for the brass ring and build the aircraft entirely from Canadian knowledge and know-how. The plan was ambitious, but even the most pessimistic would realize the chance to build a major high-tech industry in Canada, instead of simply buying gear from the Americans.

O'Connor quickly brought this to Defense Minister Kim Campbell, who loved the idea and quickly explained it to the Cabinet. All liked the idea, but most expressed concerns about the cost. Even the most mild variant would cost hundreds of millions to develop, to do the job that the Tomcat could already do. But the argument in favor was that this would create a real Canadian aerospace defense industry. The debate raged on through May 1999, but then got changed. The existence of the program was leaked to the Press, with the proposal callign it "a chance to rectify the mistakes made when Canada stopped its indigenous fighter the last time." The response was positive, to say the least.

The debate through June was focused on how much it would cost to build the fighter, and all expected the costs of development to be in the billions. But even the most pessimistic commentators pointed out that the program would create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jobs, and spending such money to develop the fighter was better spent in Canada than buying upgrades or new equipment from abroad. All five parties in Ottawa expressed support for the idea, though Reform and BQ support was somewhat tempered by cost concerns and the BQ's trademark "what's in it for Quebec?" attitude.

Sensing the support, Ontario Premier Mike Harris his Quebec counterpart, Daniel Johnson, made the first moves - an agreement between Canada Defense Aerospace and Bombardier Aerospace to build the fighters, with the first development moneys coming from Queens Park and Quebec City. That deal was signed on June 25, 1999, and the development began again.

On July 1, in a Canada Day speech broadcast across the country, Charest emphatically made it official - "We will not make the same mistake twice. This fighter will be developed, it will be built, and it will see service with the Forces" - was in his speech, and was a key portion of the speech sent out to the Forces members. The legislation to provide the funding from the DND was introduced on July 5, 1999, and passed easily on July 21. The project was real, and it was underway, and Canada was back in the fighter jet business......

OOC: Better?

 

[TheMann]

Much more reasonable i suppose. The Arrow was a good plane, just that that was back in the 1960s. I suppose you could have this next-gen fighter use the PS-14 Haida Turbofan like the Super Tomcats, eh?

That is part of the idea......

 

[TheMann]

I gotta say, this does sound much more reasonable.

Now the military/industrial complex comes to Canada with a vengance . As has been shown to the south of us, military procurement money is much easier to pry out of legislatures when its going to numerous constituancies with lots of defence industry workers/voters.

Such will be the case here, I assure you.

 

[TheMann]

OOC: I'm on it, Ming. I'll have to go back and update things later, but what the hell, let's roll.

1999 (Part 2)
Canada's year for the Forces would be noted by the end of one peacekeeping mission, the opening of another, and the escalation of what was the biggest peacekeeping mission in the world at that point.

1999 opened with the end of what had been at one time the biggest peacekeeping mission in history. After the 1998 elections went off without a hitch, the United Nations decided to close out the UN mission in South Africa - the job was done, and the Federal Republic of South Africa, the economy of which was growing like a weed and the old racial problems were dying away. The UN formally announced the end of UNMISA on January 18, 1999. The next day, South Africa's new President, Steven Biko, addressed the United Nations, thanking all of those who had done so much to ensure South Africa's revival in the 1990s. "The nations of the world came to our aid when we needed it, and for that, on behalf of the people of South Africa, I thank you for your sacrifices. If the debt can be repaid one day, I give you my word now that it will be."

The last Canadian units in South Africa were 1,500 men from the Calgary Highlanders, who departed Johannesburg for home on Febuary 14, 1999. Their heavy equipment - mostly Grizzly and Bison APCs - was offered to the SANDF, but the South Africans sent the equipment home behind the troops. Two months later, however, Canuck troops were back in South Africa - a few of them, anyways.

Noting that Canada's goals with its new equipment procurement meshed well with those the SANDF, the South Africans offered to donate 75 of their Rooikat 105 armored support vehicles to the Canadian Forces. This offer was considered, and in April twelve heavy weapons experts flew to South Africa to test the Rooikats. What they found was impressive. The Rooikat, which was capable of 120 km/h onroad and 60/km/h off of it, packed a massive 105mm gun, which used standard NATO ammo, and had highly sophisticated fire control, which allowed the gun to be accurately fired even at high speed. The troops called it "the troop tank", as it had been designed to keep up with faster-moving infantry units. Impressed, the twelve urged the acceptance of the vehicles. Despite some opposition from the Reform Party - the objections of which were loudly shouted down by the Conservatives - the vehicles were accepted. They entered service for the CF's infantry regiments in 2000. They were so effective that 75 more were ordered in 2003.

With South Africa dying away, the attention to shifted to the Balkans. That mess had been simmering for years after the Dayton Accords of 1995, but it opened up again in 1999 when the Yugoslav territory of Kosovo earnestly attempted to break away from the rump Yugoslavia. Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milsoevic ordered the Serbian Army to end the revolt, and the army and many militias moved into Kosovo. The violence spread rapidly, and by March 1999 dozens were dying every day.

Not wanting to see a repeat of the Balkan Wars which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and realizing Kosovo's demographics were far divided from those of the rest of Yugoslavia, NATO ordered Milosevic to back down. Milsoevic angrily refused, and on March 24, Operation Allied Force began.

Warrior wasn't in on this one - it was off Peru making a transit to the Pacific at the time - but the Canadian Forces were there, in strength. CF-14s were among the aircraft assigned to air defense, and CF-18s and CF-187s were among the aircraft dropping bombs, though the CF-14s did drop basic iron bombs themselves on a number of occasions. Their work was exemplary, dropping 14% of the bombs dropped in the entire war and shooting down three Yugoslav MiG-29s, but the biggest event of the year went down on May 26, and had only a little to do with the Air Command.

Reconaissance and intelligence-gathering leading up to the campaign had repeatdly tracked down the locations of several high-ranking genocide leaders, most notably Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, both wanted by international courts. Now the chief of the Canadian Forces and having a distrinct memory of the pain he saw and suffered in Rwanda, General Romeo Dallaire was not about to let these men get away, and he proposed a mission to go in and get them. Telling the authorities, though, was fraught with peril - somebody would undoubtedly tip off Karadzic and Mladic. They needed to go in themselves.

Charest made the call himself - go for it. Defense Minister Campbell agreed, and Dallaire began planning for it.

On May 10, the two turned up in the town of Foca. Dallaire got this intel within hours, and drew up his plans with the American Supreme Allied Commander, General Wesley Clark. As these two were wanted, Dallaire's plan was easily approved - and Clark would say later, "he wanted to go after them like an angry pitbull. He wanted them badly."

On the night of May 25, 525 men of the Canadian Special Air Service took off in nine C-130H Hercules aircraft and flew from Aviano, Italy, to Foca, Bosnia, where they parachuted in. As they arrived, so did CF-187 fighters form the AF, which had left from Aviano shortly after the Hercules had. They provided cover while the Canadian troops cleared out any Serb militiamen and caputed Karadzic and Mladic. Two MiG-23s of the Srpska's air forces were shot down by the CF-187s, and the Hercules landed on a nearby road cleared out by the forces. The aircraft picked up the teams and took off, heading back to Aviano. They were refueled over the Adriatic before landing back in Italy.

The mission was a success, though ten men died and twenty-eight were wounded. One of the CF-187s was struck by a Serb SAM and crashed in a house, killing both crew members instantly. The daring raid seriously angered the Bosnian and Yugoslav governmments, but the response from both NATO and Canada was little more than a shrug. Karadzic and Mladic were both turned over to the International Courts, and both were charged with genocide. Karadzic ultimately hung himself in his cell, but Mladic was convicted of crimes against humanity on May 15, 2005, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The operation also awed the media. "Our Boys Get the Murderers of Bosnia" was the headline of the National Post, while the Toronto Sun was even more simplistic: "Gotcha, Punks." While a few pointed out that the Forces had violated international law in the raid, almost nobody cared - the crimes of Karadzic and Mladic were well-known, and many who had been victims of the two Serbian murderers openly cheered Canada's raid. In Washington, the response was both being impressed with the ambitious raid, and questions as to why the United States didn't do it themselves. "We got upstaged on our mission by the Canucks!" Growled Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Republican of Pennsylvania. "How did we let that happen?!"

OOC: Part 3 to come......

 

[TheMann]

Hyperion, dude, make your own TL, dude. That's part of the goal of this forum. Do it in this thread if you want, man, I'll gather mine up and head to the TLs and Scenarios if ya want.

I admit that this is somewhat wankish. If I was building the carriers myself, I agree on the idea that two smaller carriers would be better than one great big one. I'm not arguing that one. But here, the older but still in good shape Forrestal came to Canada for nothing, and the Canucks spent a billion dollars reducing its required crew by 2,400 to make it easier on the budget to operate.

 

[TheMann]

Hey, I love it!!!

I mean, we get a friggin super carrier for dirt cheap, and it was the first one ever too!!!

But technically, the first ever angled-deck supercarrier designed as such was Forrestal's sister ship, Ranger.

So yeah, the Mann, please carry on your good work.

And out of curiosity, what made you decide to have the CdG's Island transplanted onto the Warrior?

It's a good setup. It's much taller than that of the Forrestal, and gives better visibility and better room to work, as well as mounting the radars high up, giving them a better field of vision. It's also a design that is about the same as the state of the art at the time.

And make sure we get those CC-180s soon

Watch this space......

 

[TheMann]

1999 (Part 3)
The success in the Balkans in capturing Karadzic and Mladic made Canada a major enemy of the Serbs. On June 3, 1999, an angry mob in Belgrade ransacked the Canadian Embassy there, though it had been closed and evacuated of Canadian citizens before the NATO war. The massive bombing forces Yugoslav President Milosevic to back down and withdraw troops from Kosovo, a process which begins on June 10. Two days later, KFOR and NATO troops, including the Canadian PPCLI, begin moving into Kosovo.

That hadn't even finished when BJ Habibie made the surprise decision on June 2, 1999, to allow East Timor to have a referendum on its independence after 25 years of Indonesian rule. This came on the eve of a meeting of the Commonwealth heads of state, which was to occur in Pretoria, South Africa on June 14. Australian PM John Howard, expecting the Indonesians to make trouble during the referendum, proposed a Commonwealth operation to ensure the peace, noting that Australia had a lot of trouble on its doorstep if Australia tried to keep East Timor by force. Public opinion in Australia supported Howard's proposal. After an informal meeting between Howard, Charest, British PM Tony Blair and Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the four nations agreed to lead such an operation, and the four would put forth a joint declaration for UN permission, which they did on June 26.

Some were concerned that Canada, already having undertaken two successful missions that year, would be unprepared for a third. That idea got ended on June 29, when over a dozen reserve units, all from Western Canada and in many cases veterans of Bosnia, South Africa and/or Rwanda (and in a number of the commanders' cases, Cyprus) offered to join the effort if their entire units could go. Knowing that would take heat off the Regular Force, both Dallaire and Campbell backed the idea.

After successes all year and the plan to help the Commonwealth in East Timor now public, Charest announced on July 24, 1999, an update on the plan released in 1991 by Mulroney. The plan went further than the 1991 plan had, re-iterating the need for the Forces to be able to move fast. Many military leaders and analysts called the plan "a plan for the fastest moving military on the planet." The plan was extensive.

The plan called for the Army to be able to move fast with its inventory, doing that by the purchase of a fast sealift ship for the Forces, and the creation of a program to build or buy a number of container ships and freighters for the Canadian Merchant Marine, with the agreement with the owners that if the Forces asked, the ships would be available. The Forces would train portions of all the infantry units to be 'airmobile' forces, with them being both recon units and advance units. The Forces' wish to own as many helicopters as possible, even if they were mildly modified civilian units, was reiterated. An additional C-17 would be bought, along with other transport aircraft, and the troops on the ground would be outfitted with small UAVs like some units of other western militaries, with the goal of providing them with better intel. The Navy would get a new destroyer program with the goal of launching 8-10 units of a Canadian class between 2007 and 2010 to replace the Iroquois, Ontario and Manitoba-class destroyers, and would get a program to create a class of multi-role vessels designed for shallow-water operations, and a variant of the class would also outfit the Canadian Coast Guard. Also up would be at least five resupply vessels, a small number of diesel-electric submarines (and a tender for them) and a dedicated hospital ship for the Navy.

With the new territory of Nunavut now a reality, Nunavut would get its own active regiment, the Nunavut Defense Regiment, which would be made up primarily of Native Canadians and would be based in Iqaluit. The Northwest Passage would be settled by the building of air and naval bases in the Iqaluit area, and the Canadian Rangers would be expanded to be a first-response force in the Canadian North, including the delivery of helicopters for them and the development of some new gear for them, including replacing their aged Lee-Enfield rifles with modern weapons and providing them with GPS devices to allow them to be more effective as responders.

Other proposals included dedicated attack helicopters and the development of the Canadian fighter, but these were already underway and were largely on the back burner as compared to the new plans released in July 1999. All of the plans would be primarily bought from the Canadian Forces. The plan also laid out plans of upgrades for the existing fleets of Tomcat, Hornet and Corsair II aircraft, to be done in Canada. Somewhat contraversially, part of the plan was two executive transport aircraft based on Air Canada aircraft.

The operation to help East Timor now officially underway, Australia's newly refitted and upgraded carrier HMAS Australia set out with its support group from the RAN from Sydney, moving to Darwin, beginning the operation by ensuring the security of the area around East Timor. It was expected that East Timor would vote overwhelmingly for independence, and Howard made it clear to Habibie that any attempt to destroy any infrastructure in East Timor would be responded to harshly by Australia. Habibie angrily denounced the Commonwealth Forces, calling them "the warriors of Colonialism."

With the Indian Navy having virtually nothing to do with India's successful operations in Kashmir, they were keen on a success. INS Viraat, India's flagship, was deployed to the area, though Viraat was drawfed by Australia. Canada's contingent departed Vancouver on July 10, led by Warrior. Destroyers Ontario, British Columbia and Algonquin, Frigates Halifax, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary, supply ships Protecteur and Preserver and nuclear sub Superior rode with Warrior. They arrived in the area on August 19, with Protecteur and Preserver docking Darwin to reload its fuel tanks before rejoining its fleet. The British fleet was based around HMS Invincible, and the Royal Navy also brought three of its SSNs. South Africa sent its supply ship SAS Drakensberg, which would be busy racing between the fleet and Darwin.

Sure enough, the referendum for independence was almost 4-1 in favor of independence. Indonesian military forces quickly withdrew, though Habibie would not allow the deployment of the peacekeeping forces to the area, saying it would result in war between them and Indonesia. Within days, however, pro-Indonesia militias were causing substantial damage.

The Canadian Airborne Regiment got the call again to jump into Dili to shut down the militias, joined by members of the Australian Defence Forces and the Royal Marines. They landed and jumped in on September 20, 1999, and quickly routed the pro-Indonesia militias. By the end of 1999, the United Nations was working on the situation, and formed a national council between the Timorese and the peacekeeping forces to figure out the way to independence.

In November 1999, facing groups within the government who wanted his overthrow for giving up East Timor, Haibibie announced that the Indonesians were lining up to take back East Timor and that they would force out the international forces. That idea was taken seriously by the Commonwealth forces, and a massive show of force was put up on December 7, 1999. Involving both Warrior and Australia, the two battle groups would run very high profile air exercises between them, supported by land-based aircraft for both sides. Part of the operation was six Canadian Tomcats roaring over the city of Jakarta without so much as a response from the Indonesian Air Force. The show of force ended the invasion plan - and unbeknownst to the Canadians at the time, the coup attempts against Habibie were led by the Air Force, which looked pretty stupid when enemy aircraft could freely roam over the Indonesian capital.

 

[TheMann]

Yeah, Toronto knows a lot about punks, big club called the crash N' burn I've heard about a long time ago. Good headline.

I kinda ripped off the British headline from during the Falklands War - one of the Newspapers (The Sun I think) had the headline "Gotcha" after a British sub sank ARA General Belgrano. Here, the cover of the Toronto Sun is a picture of Karadzic and Mladic, with that headline. I thought its something that the Toronto Sun would publish.

 

[TheMann]

1999 (Part 4)
With the government having made its announcement of the plan for the 21st Century, the requests for information went out for the various ships.

The Maritime Command went first, making separate requests for information for new supply ships, a fast sealift ship, submarine tender and a hospital ship. Both foreign and domestic shipbuilders responded with various proposals.

Saint John Shipbuilding, Halifax Shipbuilders, Cape Breton Ocean Engineering, MIL Davie and Pacific Vessel Engineering all proposed vessels, all to be built in Canada. Several companies from the United States also made proposals. Among what was offered was two incomplete Henry J. Kaiser fleet oilers which had been mothballed by the USN, and several older vessels the US had decommissioned. The older vessels were denied because of their age, and the Canadians preferred to build vessels in Canada.

The Reform Party repeatedly advocated for ex-USN vessels, pointing out that they could be used quickly and could be acquired for a low price. The other parties, however, wanted the contract to go to a Canadian shipyard for a new vessel - and all the older USN vessels before the Kaiser class were steam-powered, and the last steam-powered warships had been decommissioned three years earlier.

The most promising design came from SNC-Lavalin, which had been contracted by MIL Davie to design a vessel. The vessel design was a 840-foot-long double-hulled vessel, which had three bunkers - two for marine diesel and one for aviation fuel, though all three could be used for marine diesel if needed - which had four refueling rigs and a large helipad on the end of the vessel. Four loading cranes also were installed, and the vessel could also carry 155 20-foot containers of the same design as used by the Canadian Forces. The vessel, which also could serve as a command center and mad many advanced features, was powered by eight geared General Motors Model 265 turbodiesel engines, giving the 52,000-ton vessel a maximum speed of some 24 knots, faster than the Protecteur and Provider class vessels.

This design, which would called the Defender class, was approved by parliament on November 14, 2000. The first was laid down on January 10, 2001, at the MIL Davie Shipyards in Lauzon, Quebec.

For the Hospital ship, the Canadian Forces went with the same plan the US Navy used when it built its latest hospital ships. The Maritime Command selected Allied Shipbuilders of Vancouver to convert oil Panamax-size oil tanker SS Western Pacific into HMCS Merciful, the first dedicated hospital ship of the Canadian Forces. Authorized at the same as the Defender class supply vessels, Merciful would be built along with one of the supply ships in Vancouver.

The Air Command and Army began co-ordinating their efforts on utility helicopters, but the lessons of South Africa and Bosnia had shown that the Forces' CH-146 Griffons, effective as they were, were still at a loss compared to dedicated military helicopters such as the American UH-60 Blackhawk and European EC725 Super Cougar. The decision was made to switch gears then, and move to buying a smaller number of dedicated military helicopters, which would then move the CH-146s to the secondary helicopter lines. This would be debated viciously through 2000.

 

[TheMann]

Lookin' good so far. You will definitely need to fix your old Teaser Roster of Canadian Forces.

Yep, I've come to realize that. But once I get to 2010, I'll fix it.

I'm surprised we had used so many SAS operators on a mission; the brits usually send in at most a couple of teams to a mission. 520+ seems to be a little high, especially for very elite SFs like this. Any word on that?

Guys like Mladic are likely to be well-guarded, and the town of Foca is almost entirely Serb after Serbian paramilitaries expelled all of the Bosniaks in 1992-93, killing almost 3,000 of them in the process. I had figured that as the town was likely to be overwhelmingly hostile, they would need lots of men on the ground there. Better to have too many guys than too little in a case like that.

Remember to have any specific individuals with either in the Navy or Air Force has the appropriate ranks (ie, commodore, Wing commander, etc)

Yeah, I'm trying to watch that, but its kinda challenging at times. Wikipedia is helpful here, though.

 

[TheMann]

thank you...the CH146 as I understand it is a decent number for a medium number of troops or a small amount of troops and gear.

Considering we max out equivalent lift machines forest fire fighting with 8 men and light equipment load I'm glad to the the -146's reviewed.

Yeah, the Griffons are good helicopters but they haven't got enough size or power for some of the roles intended for them.

 

[TheMann]

2000
With situations around the world requiring attention, the year 2000 opened with Canadian personnel serving on UN missions in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor and Sri Lanka, as well as the Navy showing the flag in many parts of the world.

2000 for the Maritime Command was rung with its flagship, HMCS Warrior, at Darwin, Australia on a port visit. The residents of the Australian city, famed for its friendliness, made the international armada which had been docked at Darwin - Australian, Canadian, British, Indian, Singaporean and South African vessels were in attendance - made sure that the port visit was a nice break. With HMAS Australia now handling the security duties at East Timor, on January 11, 2000, Warrior sailed for home, making a port stop at Pearl Harbor along the way before arriving at Esquimault on February 8. Warrior then pulled into the Allied Shipbuilders' dock in Vancouver, getting its first major refit, adding an improved defensive armament, new electronic warfare systems, landing radars and the first Canadian-manufactured VLR radar, the ATI Technologies SMR-1200. Warrior backed out of the dock on May 28, headed back out for another cruise before she heads back for the East Coast.

For the Air Command, 2000 sees the first delivery of the service-ready Airbus A400M. By the end of the year, 32 of them have been delivered, five of them to Canada. The A400M, named the CC-176 Airmaster, makes its first public appearance at the Canada Day Air Show in Montreal. The A400M proves to be an effective tool, better stability than the C-130 and more hauling performance and speed. The fact that its engines and parts of the fuselage have been made in Canada is better. The Air Command also had to deal with the issue of the military helicopters. The CH-146 was a reliable chopper, but it had been crticizied for a relative lack of performance, and as a result the Forces had started in late 1999 investigating the idea of moving the CH-146s to second-string status and instead buying dedicated military choppers.

The helicopter debate was focused on whether to buy smaller military helicopters such as the Sikorsky UH-60 "Blackhawk" and NHI NH90, or bigger units such as the AgustaWestland Merlin and Sikorsky S-92. The Merlin and S-92 were both in active Canadian service, but both were large helicopters, and the smaller (and cheaper) UH-60 and NH90 were better suited to replacing the CH-146.

Realizing how deep the debate was, all three manufacturers - Sikorsky, NHI and AgustaWestland - attempted to influence the debate in their favor, and sweetened the terms of a proposed deal. The dirt-cheap UH-60 was outperformed by the NH90, but the UH-60 had many variants and could be tailored for Canada's specific needs. The S-92 was much better for the troop transport role, but the S-92 was considered too big for the role, with the rivals eventually being narrowed to the UH-60L Blackhawk and NH90.

The decision was made when Bombardier announced on May 18, 2000, that it was buying the remains of collapsing Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, as Fokker owned a small chunk of NH Industries. NH Industries' final offer included all the Canadian helicopters being built in Canada, which Sikorsky couldn't do it. On May 30, 2000, The Canadian Government announced the decision to procure the NH Industries NH90 TTH helicopter, and Canada would buy 75 units for $1.07 Billion, and the CH-146 Griffons would be moved to second-line units and lighter duties. All 74 would be built at Bombardier's plant in Toronto, Ontario, but the company manufactured many pieces for it in Western Canada, including the gearboxes, which were to be made in Calgary, Alberta. The CF NH90s, which was named CH-151 Vulcan, included strengthened underside hooks, improved heating and air conditioning systems, more powerful General Electric T700 engines, tougher interiors and low-light and infrared systems, improving the lifting ability from 4,200 kg to 4,850 kg.

Bombardier's decision to buy Fokker would have major effects on the Canadian military-industrial complex, which was already growing to be substantial. Fokker had been developing a smaller airliner, which Bombardier promptly stopped - as it was a rival to Bombardier's efforts. But Bombardier announced that its Fokker and Short Brothers units and their engineers would be used to develop a wide-body airliner, expected to be a rival to the Airbus A330/A340 and Boeing 777. It was an ambitious goal, but as Bombardier with Fokker was the time the world's fourth-largest aircraft builder (behind Boeing, Airbus and Embraer) it was considered to be ambitious but within reach.

Bombardier's purchase of Fokker also gave it access to the Eurofighter project, and through 2000 rumors began circling that Canada's Tomcat, Hornet and Corsair fighters would be replaced by the Eurofighter, especially as the Canadian fighter project was expected to be a large strike fighter - the F-15 Strike Eagle and Sukhoi Su-30 were said to be the performance targets for the aircraft. The Canadian fighter was first named in September 2000, when North American Aerospace and Bombardier showed off its first conceptual designs, naming it the CF-190 Crossbow. The name was clearly an evolution of the Arrow, but the aircraft designs showed off shared absolutely nothing with the Arrow. A two-seat, twin-engined aircraft, the original Crossbow design included a large semi-delta design with twin tails, many commentators compared the original Crossbow to a Su-30 with a F-14 front and leading edge extensions.

On September 15, 2000, Canada also showed off what many figured was its most glamorous addition to the Air Command, the first of two rebuilt ex-Air Canada Boeing 747-200s made into VIP transport aircraft. Some openly called the decision to buy the aircraft, which gained the name CC-180 Commander, as irresponsible - but as the CC-180 was also able to function was a mobile commander center and serve in several roles, it could be justified. The first operational mission for the CC-180 was undertaken two week later, flying former PM Pierre Trudeau's body from Montreal to Ottawa, and back again three days later.

DART was deployed internationally for the first time in March 2000, headed to Mozambique, where massive flooding had caused horrible damage across the nation. Heavy rain across four countries had resulted in major flood problems across most of Mozambique's Limpopo River valleys, killing nearly 800 people and causing vast damage. DART set up in a high valley in Mozambique during the floods. Two CF personnel were killed when their CH-146 helicopter crashed south of Beira, Mozambique.

Politically, 2000 was heavily taken up by the battle for the US Presidency. The Republican primaries turned into a massive, ugly battle between Governor George W. Bush of Texas and Senator John McCain of Arizona. The acrimony rose to new heights when Bush won South Carolina, in many cases credited by the very ugly tactics undertaken by Bush's campaign. But the day after Bush's victory, his campaign boss, Karl Rove, was killed in a car accident in Atlanta, Georgia. Rove's death and McCain's angry counterstrikes led to Bush's lead evaporating, and McCain would ultimately go on to be the Republican nominee. The Democratic nomination wasn't perfect - a stroke injuried Democratic VP nominee Joe Lieberman, and a massive grassroots campaign elevated Wisconsin Senator Paul Wellstone into the VP slot.

The 2000 elections were ultimately won by Gore and Wellstone, but McCain and VP choice Colin Powell made them fight for it. The election ultimately came down to the final counts in Florida. Late in 2000, however, news broke of voter fraud in Florida, where eligible voters had been tossed off the voter lists. A McCain campaign decision to take the vote result to the Supreme Court was vetoed by McCain and Powell, who both didn't wanted to win legitimately. McCain's decision would ultimately cost him the Presidency, but both of them would defend their decisions later.

Canadian politics was calm through 2000, though most were sad when Pierre Trudeau died on September 28. Trudeau's funeral in Montreal turned out to be another nail driven into the Reform Party, as one of the Reform MPs, Jason Kenney, denounced Trudeau as "the socialist who tried to destroy Canada." and was furious that "his communist lackey is our country", referring to the fact that Cuban President Fidel Castro was at the funeral. Kenney's comments infuriated many, including his former mentor Stephen Harper, who denounced the decision and called for Kenney's resignation as MP. Kenney was expelled from Reform Party caucus for the stunt, with party leader Preston Manning commenting "I will not put my faith into those who are unwilling to respect others, even if they disagree with their views." Also among those at the Funeral was Wellstone, who considered Trudeau a good man who deserved respect.

On November 26, Preston Manning announced his resignation as the leader of the Reform Party, retiring from his position. Manning's Party was suffering badly, Kenney's stunt costing them support even in one-solid Alberta. The leadership race would be one of the main events of early 2001 in Canadian politics.

 

[TheMann]

I missed something. How did the A400M get into service a decade early - and given it's so early why does it have the same name (which seems a tad arbitrary)?

The A400M was first started development in 1982, and I simply decided that it was likely to move faster if there was more orders.

 

[TheMann]

2001 (Part 1)
The expectations of 2001 being a year for exciting politics was not mistaken, and it got off to a bright and early start. On January 10, 2001, Britain proposed that the Turks and Caicos Islands be brought into Canada, followed the next day by a similar proposal put forth by five Canadian MPs. The idea was a stunning one - the small Turks and Caicos Islands, with a population of 30,000, couldn't be a province, and the idea had been canned three times before.

But what had changed was demographics. Canada's population was changing demographically at a rapid rate, largely through immigration, which brought nearly 420,000 new Canadians to the country in 2000. The idea of bringing into Canada a small, moderately wealthy territory would not cause any particular demographic issues. Also under consideration was the immigration issues posed by the positioning of the islands off of Cuba. But Defense Minister MacKay and Maritime Command Commander Admiral Greg Maddison both told parliament that it was an obligation that the Forces could handle. MacKay also pointed out the increasing problem of illicit drug trades in the Caribbean region, and that having the territory be part of Canada would give the Forces a forward base, as well as alleviating many unemployment concerns on the island.

On March 20, 2001, Canada agreed to allow the Turks and Caicos Islands to become part of Canada if the people voted to support it in a referendum. This referendum was held on May 3, 2001, and turned out to be a formality - 74% of the voters were in favor of the Union. On June 1, 2001, the Turks and Caicos Islands officially became Canada's third territory, and were invited to elect a MP for the Canadian House of Commons. That MP was the former Premier of the territory, Derek Hugh Taylor, and officially took his seat in the House of Commons on August 10, 2001, to wide applause.

Before the idea of the Turks and Caicos Islands becoming part of Canada rose, the most exciting political detail was the Reform Party. In a serious state of disrepair and with support in the gutter after Jason Kenney's political stunt in September 2000, there was talk of the Reform Party being brought into the Progressive Conservatives. But the three leading candidates to replace the retiring Preston Manning - Stockwell Day, Janet Brown and Deborah Grey - all angrily said that they would not join the Progressive Conservatives. Day ripped Harper as a "sellout" who was more interested in power than principles, which drew an angry response from Harper: "I made my decision based on what was best for my wishes to serve my, and it is because of ideologues that the Reform Party is still a small party. And they know that, but Mr. Day continues to look at issues in black and white." Day's hardline comments also angered two of the Reform Party's MPs, which led to Manning asking Day to bow out for the sake of the party. Deborah Grey, which was the first Reform MP in 1989, was ultimately elected to be the party's leader.

 

[TheMann]

I like it!

Make sure the Tomcats are still retained for a while (ie, that other Tomcat timeline you developed) Hopefully, it will retire after 2030 and be given a place of honor.

I'm still deciding on that one. I'm thinking perhaps they go to being a carrier-based airplane, allowing the Eurofighter and the Crossbow to take over land-based fighter duties.

 

[TheMann]

But remember, the Tomcats will always be the ultimate poster plane for TTL's Canadian Forces, due to the Rule of Cool. I assume some will be turned into museum piece (ie, some of the original Iranian planes), but they still have really good uses. Perhaps turning also into a multi-role jet like the F-14Ds in their twilight years. Maybe we can get away with the Clemanceau or Foch being sold for firesale price to us. We could always use a second carrier, even a slightly smaller one. Fill it with Tomcats, if we can fit it, Hornets (plenty of them) and other aircraft, it could work as the backup to Warrior.

Several of the older F-14s (and ones that have airframes that timed out) are already on display. (One of them is on display with a CF-104 at Toronto Pearson here) And I have every intention of going further than the F-14D. After all, lots of upgrades were designed for them, and the newest F-14s Canada has are ex-USN aircraft built in the 1990s. These will be upgraded to most of the Super Tomcat 21 stuff, and as the USN is gonna be keeping the F-14 longer here, the development will likely be done between the two nations. The US might get new aircraft, but Canada will remanufacture theirs. Assuming the upgrades are done 2004-05 ish, they'll be good to 2025 or so. The F-14E/CF-184C will be the Canadian naval version of the F-15E, replaced from Air Command Service in 2010-12 by the Crossbow (about the same time, the Hornets will be replaced by something - I'm debating whether that's F-35s or Eurofighters) and focused on the Maritime Command. Right now, Canada has about 85 F-14s, 30 with the Maritime Command and 55 with the Air Command, most of them being ex-USN aircraft, though about 30-35 of the Iranian planes are still flying. All Canadian F-14s use GE engines instead of the TF30s, and upgrades will be done in Canada.

As for a new carrier, buying Foch or Clemenceau would be cheap, but the costs of operating both would be high and either would need a major overhaul before it could see service, and it also has environmental problems - asbestos, mercury and PCBs in particular. Yes, it could be made to work, but the costs of refitting it could be expensive. I'm thinking of how to get around that, though......

The early 2000s are gonna be focused in two areas: The Carribbean (because of Canada's new fourth territory) and Afghanistan. I won't say more than that, but it will be interesting.

 

[TheMann]

TheMann,
Does this mean you are renouncing your Canadian citizenship and heritage? Have you gone into hiding?

Hell no.

Oy, you just can't win with some people, eh?

Besides that, I'm the son of a Rhodesian dad and a Australian mom. Not sure how much Canadian heritage I've got, if I'm honest.

 

[TheMann]

What's the Crossbow?

The Canadian Fighter. The full name is the Bombardier/North American Aerospace CF-190 Crossbow.