Canada Sending Armed Bell 412s to Afghanistan

CH-146 w. (old) AN/AAQ-501(click to view full) In December 2005, “Canada Purchases $200M in Equipment for Operation ARCHER in Afghanistan” noted the issues created by Canada’s complete lack of integrated in-theater battlefield helicopter support. Events since that date have been instructive. That complete lack of helicopters eventually became a large political problem. When the January 2008 Manley Report [PDF] was delivered to Parliament, it effectively made Canada’s continued military presence in Afghanistan contingent on fielding an adequate solution by February 2009. Canada’s delayed CH-47F Chinook buy wouldn’t arrive quickly enough, so the government wound up buying 6 used CH-47Ds from the US Army in August 2008 – more than 2 years after calls for exactly that course of action had begun. Those helicopters will still need escorts, however, and so will some convoys. Meanwhile, allied AH-64 Apaches or Mi-24 Hinds are in high demand, and are not always available. A September 2006 article from the CASR think tank had suggested turning Canada’s CH-146 Griffon/ Bell 412 helicopters into light armed reconnaissance helicopters, making a virtue of necessity given the type’s limited carrying capacity in hot and high altitude conditions. In fall 2007, however, the (appointed) Liberal Party Senator Colin Kenny […]