For The Record

Guest speaker at our 8 Jan 03 meeting was Major Sean A. Hackett, Officer Commanding A Company, 3 PPCLI. He spoke about the battle group in Afghanistan and the presentation could be termed a “show-stopper.” He led his company as part of the 3 PPCLI historic first combat air assault mission for the Canadian Army. It was his company that suffered four dead and eight wounded when accidentally bombed by the USAF. _

Passing The Torch

The Canadian Government is building the new Canadian War Museum on LeBreton Flats, in the heart of Ottawa. Passing the Torch campaign has been conceived by Friends of the Museum to raise funds for exhibitions, displays and outreach programs in the new museum. Donations or requests for information should be directed to: Friends of the Canadian War Museum, General Motors Court, 330 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0M8. Telephone 1-800-256-6031. _

Response to SCONDVA

Government responded last 25 Oct to the 25 recommendations of the Commons Defence Committee urging major increases to Defence funding in the Feb 03 budget. The Conference of Defence Associations asked friends of CDA to provide balancing comments. For the AIR FORCE, Bob Morton provided the following comment to the government’s response for Recommendation 19, stating that replacement of the Maritime Helicopter was a priority:

“Government handling of the Maritime Helicopter replacement (MPH) project has been one blunder after another. To suggest in this response that there is urgency in moving this forward “as quickly as possible’ after nine years of political interference and delays stretches all traces of credibility. This project will go down in Canadian military history as the most disgraceful waste of time and money ever perpetrated by a western government on its armed forces. Delays in this program have been caused first and foremost by vindictiveness at the highest political levels. The answer to the SCONDVA recommendation is bafflegab, pure and simple.”
—LGen (Ret) Robert Morton. (Since deceased in Dec 02.)

—DANN News Magazine. _

Women Sailors Perish

Three Singaporean sailors are dead and another missing following what has been described as the worst naval incident in modern Singapore’s history. The 500-ton Singaporean anti-submarine patrol boat, RSS Courageous, and the Dutch-registered cargo ship ANL Indonesia, collided in the Singapore Strait late last Friday.  The four sailors, all women, were believed to have been asleep in their quarters at the rear of the navy vessel when the collision occurred. Only three of the women’s bodies have yet been retrieved. —BBC, 06 Jan. 2003 _

Canada develops hypervelocity missile

Defence Research & Development Canada Valcartier (DRDC Valcartier) is conducting its High-Energy Missile (HEMi) Technology Demonstration to test and evaluate candidate subsystems for a small hypervelocity weapon that could provide light combat vehicles weighing approximately 20t with the firepower traditionally associated with main battle tanks. The establishment is exploiting its in-house expertise in the fields of propulsion, aerodynamics, guidance, control, lethality and structure, together with its integration experience (which it regards as being vital to success). It is also collaborating with specialized partners in industry and academia. —Jane’s, 23 Dec. 2002 _

Russian Aviation Unifies

Russian army aviation will be fully assigned to the air force by Jan. 1, 2003. A source in the Defense Ministry said that once land and air commanders report the transfer, army aviation would officially become part of the air force. _

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