Somewhat related to the parts/lack of techs issue....
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/new ... a6706d3224
Air force needs $540M to keep flying
Pay up or planes stay down -- flying hours will be cut drastically, general warns
David Pugliese
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The head of Canada's air force is warning that he will have to ground aircraft and reduce the flying time for other planes if he doesn't receive several hundred million dollars in additional funding for spare parts, repair work and fuel.
As many as 15 CF-18s would need to be grounded, along with four Hercules transport planes, four Aurora patrol aircraft and six Sea King helicopters because of a lack of money for parts, repair and overhaul, according to a strategic assessment produced by the air force.
Mounting fuel costs and lack of money to build hangars and other infrastructure for new planes being delivered is also putting a strain on the air force budget, warns the chief of the air staff, Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt.
The concerns are outlined in the general's strategic assessment for 2008-09, which has been leaked to the Citizen. The document and accompanying records, notes the general, provide a good summary of the pressures and risks that the air force faces in the future.
The report outlines what the air force needs to do its job, estimating an extra $540 million is needed.
Lt.-Gen. Watt was not available for an interview and air force officials could not comment.
A defence source said the air force has received $97 million to address the concerns raised by the service.
That new funding should take some of the immediate pressure off the air force, but retired officers say it won't make long-term problems go away and aircraft could still be grounded or have their flying hours reduced.
According to the assessment, the air force needs $209 million in new money for national procurement to pay for spare parts and repair and maintain aircraft fleets. "This gap, if not substantially addressed, will result in a serious loss of capability across the air force," the assessment warns. "A funding gap of this magnitude will accelerate the rate at which individual aircraft and fleets are required to be grounded and retired and will result in significant (flying) reductions, while potentially affecting civilian aircraft maintenance industries through corresponding layoffs."
An additional $110 million for spare parts and maintenance is needed just to meet the most critical shortfalls and deal with the bare minimum operational requirements, the assessment points out. But even with the minimum cash infusion of $110 million, the assessment points out that "there will remain significant operational impacts, as well as the requirement to defer work and postpone addressing some airworthiness issues. This will create a bow wave of increased costs, reduced aircraft availability, and outstanding work that will remain to be funded and completed in the future."
Serving and retired air force officers say while the Harper government has provided the cash to buy new aircraft, such as C-17 and C-130J transport planes, it has not provided enough money to maintain the service's other fleets such as CF-18 fighter jets, Aurora patrol planes, older C-130 Hercules transports and Sea King helicopters.
The lack of money to house the air force's new planes is also a problem. The government approved the purchase of four of the giant C-17 strategic transport aircraft, but there was not enough money set aside to house the aircraft and those funds will have to come from existing budgets. The same problem affects the new C-130J transport aircraft, which are expected to arrive within the next three years.
The air force estimates that new buildings to support the new aircraft fleets at Canadian Forces Base Trenton will cost $600 million over the next five years. Some of that money has been set aside from the Defence Department's procurement budget, but the bulk of it is to come from the air force.
The air force will also be required to contribute $45 million to a $176-million infrastructure plan for Canadian Forces Base Shearwater, N.S.
Some savings, however, will come from the air force's plan to cut its number of Griffon helicopters from 85 to 64 by 2010-11. Flying hours for Aurora maritime patrol planes will also be scaled back so the aircraft can go through maintenance procedures that will allow them to keep flying until 2016.
Besides the lack of money to operate aircraft, Lt.-Gen. Watt points out that he is dealing with a shrinking workforce for his organization, which requires highly-skilled technicians.
The strategic assessment notes the air force never recovered from the personnel cutbacks ordered by the Chrétien government in the mid-1990s. At the same time, the problem is made worse by the ongoing number of missions and the need to free up staff for work on transforming the military for the future.
Air technicians make up 40 per cent of the air force and the average age of those workers is 42. But 70 per cent of them are close to early or regular retirement.
"At the same time, the (air force) is experiencing significant attrition; the prospering economy and the ever-increasing burdens imposed on a limited pool of personnel draining away the very people that the AF requires to succeed in its mission," the assessment adds.
It recommends the Defence Department adopt more flexible hiring practices.
In the last several years, Liberal and Conservative governments have pumped billions of extra dollars into the defence budget, but military analysts have argued that is not enough and billions more are needed.