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Bryan: 00:28

Hey, everybody. It's your host, Brian Morrison here with our standard RCAF senior officer pre episode commentary. We live in a twenty four hour news cycle and comments can be very quickly overtaken by events. So to put things in perspective, this interview was recorded in mid March. Fuel and ignition switches.

Bryan: 01:14

We're ready for departure here at the pilot project podcast, the best source for stories and advice from RCAF and Mission Aviation Pilots brought to you by Sky's Magazine. I'm your host, Brian Morrison. With me today is a special guest, the commander of the RCAF, lieutenant general Eric Kenny. Eric, welcome back to the show, and it's great to talk to you again.

Eric: 01:30

It's great to be back.

Bryan: 01:32

Listeners can tune in to part one of our chat to hear about Eric's early career and deployments. Today for part two of our chat with Eric, we're going to talk about his current role as commander of the RCAF as well as the current state and future of the RCAF. Finally, we'll take a couple questions from the audience. So let's talk about your current role. You took command of the RCAF on 08/12/2022.

Bryan: 01:52

What were your immediate priorities upon assuming this role?

Eric: 01:56

I had a lot of priorities, but the biggest one was to set the strategy that we wanted to follow as an air and space force going over the next ten years. We had in the lead up to my time as commander, I'd worked with Lieutenant General Al Meinzinger, who was a previous commander, who I worked for directly for four years in advance. And we talked about the development of an Air Force, Air and Space Force strategy. It wasn't quite complete when he left. And I was able to take that and work with our entire team to put out a strategy.

Eric: 02:29

And to me, that was really important, because it clarified what our mission is. It defined what our vision is. And it told us the objectives that we're trying to achieve in the timeframe we're trying to achieve it. That then allows, I believe myself and Chief Officer Hansen as the commanding chief officer to go out and clearly articulate to our aviators, to the other services, to other government departments into the Canadian public, what is the role of the Air and Space Force? And where are we going?

Eric: 02:59

And that has allowed us, I think, be relatively consistent in where we want to go.

Bryan: 03:06

Okay. What have you found has been the most rewarding part of your current position?

Eric: 03:13

For sure, it would be the RCF Centennial, which is based on today's taping, we're not quite at the end of our one hundredth year, which will finish on the 03/31/2025. But, you know, when I came into the job, we were talking a lot about the one hundredth anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the ability to recognize those who served in the past, as well as our current serving aviators, and inspire the future generation to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, or at least to recognize what we are. And we use the hashtag your air force. We wanted to get out there and make sure because our polling was not good when we asked people what is Rondell and what do you know about your force? Polling was surveys were not good.

Eric: 03:57

And so we really the team led by Colonel Maggie Jackalet put together this really ambitious program, which I didn't know how it was going to go up. Because as you know, we don't have enough people. And we don't have enough resources to do everything we want to do. So it felt like a burden at the time to try to ask people to really contribute. Then it just exploded.

Eric: 04:21

I felt like it exploded. You know, it went from here's an idea to my goodness, I think most Canadians would say that we had our one hundredth anniversary last year, which continues till the next two weeks, but in a way that I never envisioned would occur. And to be able to go to wings and events, within Canada, outside of Canada, to talk about our history and our future, really inspired me in a way that I never imagined. And I saw our aviators go way beyond in terms of level of effort that I ever imagined at the beginning. And it was so inspiring.

Eric: 05:03

And so I would have to say, the highlight is the centennial, not because of our my participation in it, but because we were able to speak to Canadians. And I think they recognized finally what the Air Force has been and where it's going. Yeah. And they're proud of it.

Bryan: 05:22

Yeah. I agree. Let's talk a little bit about the RCAF now. What are we currently very good at in the RCAF and what do we need to improve?

Eric: 05:31

We have a very professional force. We have an ability through agility to pivot quickly to provide either domestic or international responses in niche ways with the capabilities that we have. And we do that, usually we're trying to hold back in terms of what, you know, what our aviators want to do. Sometimes we have to say, okay, if we do that, then we won't be able to do this after.

Bryan: 05:56

I

Eric: 05:57

appreciate that you're offering to do that. So we're really, really good at contributing quickly to providing effects. We need to improve our capabilities to be relevant for today's threat. And we need to increase the number of people that we have that are trained to maximize those capabilities.

Bryan: 06:18

Okay. What do you see as the main challenges the RCAF is currently facing?

Eric: 06:24

The biggest one, of course, is the people side. So we're about 2,000 regular force members short of our establishment, about 500 reserve force people short of our establishment. And on the public service side, we're we've been pretty much equal, even going over the last couple years. So my focus is primarily on the regular force and reserve force. So we, lost a lot of people.

Eric: 06:49

And when I say lost, we had a lot of retirements that occurred over the pandemic period. When we stopped recruiting effectively in training. Yep. And so then we saw a significant decrease. So our biggest challenge right now is our ability to grow rapidly.

Eric: 07:02

So that we have the people. It's not technology. Technology is we've always had technology in our hundred years. It's the people that's actually what gives us the capability.

Bryan: 07:12

So how can we overcome that challenge?

Eric: 07:15

Right now, two parts of that I would say. First off, I do need to provide the technology. So we'll talk about some of the modernization efforts, I'm sure For sure. As we move forward. But on the people side, the two biggest ones and biggest ones are several others just to be clear, is the recruitment of people into the military more than we have releasing, and then the retention of the experienced personnel that we have.

Eric: 07:40

We have, since the pandemic started in 2020, we over the first three years of that, so fiscal year twenty twenty one to fiscal year twenty twenty two-twenty three, those three years, we decreased by a thousand regular force members. And the way that happened, just to be very clear, is in the first fiscal year twenty twenty one, we only brought in just over 400 people. Every year, we have about 800 to 900 releases.

Bryan: 08:10

Okay.

Eric: 08:11

So when you bring in 400 people, and you have 800 to 900 that will release over multiple years, you're going see a decrease in your training effective strength. The next fiscal year was better. We brought in more people. Fiscal year at the last fiscal year twenty three, twenty four, which finished at the March, as we kicked off on our Centennial, was the first year that we brought in more people than we had released.

Bryan: 08:35

Okay.

Eric: 08:36

First year. And instantly, we had our first increase last year. This year were several hundred over our releases, because we're bringing in a whole bunch more people this year than we did last year. In fact, we're gonna go 10% above what we asked for.

Bryan: 08:52

Okay.

Eric: 08:53

Not in all trades, but in most trades. And so this year, I'll wait for the stats, I'll get it probably in early May, but I'm expecting that our growth will be just under a hundred.

Bryan: 09:05

Okay. So we're gaining some momentum. Huge momentum.

Eric: 09:08

If you plot this out, it's an exponential growth. I suspect this upcoming fiscal year that we're gonna grow by, at least 300 people.

Bryan: 09:16

Okay. That's awesome. Who do you see as our potential main adversaries currently and why?

Eric: 09:24

Always talk about the the top five, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and violent extremist organizations. Sometimes we'll talk about climate change, just because it'll affect water scarcity, food scarcity, lead to conflict, domestic responses, etcetera. But by far, the one that's most pressing is Russia. Because right now they have an ability, if they so chose to strike North America, either through submarine launch cruise missiles or air launch cruise missile. Assuming they don't get into an intercontinental ballistic missile type approach with nuclear, so below the nuclear threshold, they could do that right now.

Eric: 10:06

Right. And their illegal invasion of Ukraine has shown that they don't respect international rules based order, and they don't respect borders. And Putin is very clear in his ambitions, which go beyond Ukraine. Let's be very let's not be naive in thinking that that's his only ambition.

Bryan: 10:28

Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Eric: 10:30

Next to that is China and their rapid growth of their military. Their partnership now with Russia where it's of convenience, joint patrols, as an example off Alaska with their bombers and Russian bombers, most recently last fall. Their science activities, as they call it up in the Arctic that have been occurring and to the largest amount this last year. And their ambitions to continue to increase their space capabilities, actually all domains in a joint way to not only make sure that they are able to protect themselves, but in a way that they can project it in other areas to include it within North America.

Bryan: 11:13

Okay.

Eric: 11:13

North Korea is a rogue actor, continuing to build the intercontinental ballistic missile, which holds us at risk right now and will continue to hold us at risk as they develop more capabilities that are and longer range. And then Iran, is feeding Hezbollah, Houthis, militias backed by Iran, trying to create instability. And all those four countries are working together in areas that they share technology that allows them to expand capabilities. And violent extremist organizations, have not gone away. And are, you know, becoming quite concerning in Africa and have been for a while.

Eric: 11:49

A place that we're not spending a lot of our time on.

Bryan: 11:51

Yeah.

Eric: 11:51

So those are our main focus areas right now. And now today, it's Russia. Quickly coming is China. Yep. And then there's these other broke ones that I talked about.

Bryan: 12:00

Okay. Let's talk a little about modernization and how we're gonna get there. Recently, we spoke with major general Chris McKenna, the commander of one CAD, about many of our modernization efforts, the biggest since World War two, in fact. Why is modernization such a big concern right now and what capability gaps do you hope to see this fill?

Eric: 12:19

We're replacing 80% of our fleets are bringing in new capabilities here in the next few years. We've signed six major contracts to deliver two zero nine new aircraft, $69,000,000,000 worth of contracts. And that does not include fixed wing insertion rescue or Griffin limited life extension, were approved before that. So why do we need to do it? Because our current capabilities do not allow us to provide a deterrent effect against Russia and China.

Eric: 12:50

Provides a deterrent effect somewhat for counter insurgency, counter VEO, but it does not provide what we have right now does not provide us a deterrent effect against a peer adversary. So, in part one, I mentioned that we focus a lot on counterinsurgency operations, and assumed that we would operate the same way for decades to come. And now we're back on state against state type, pure adversary capabilities. We're back to the Cold War. Except the Cold War was against one adversary.

Eric: 13:24

Now it's multiple adversaries, all of whom are very capable against us. So we need to rapidly pivot from our current capabilities or first off, increase the lethality of our current capabilities where we can, either through tactics, techniques, procedures, upgrades, weapons, etc. But then as soon as possible, transition to fifth generation Air Force, air and space force, so that we can have the right capabilities that provide that deterrent effect while providing the training to our aviators to maximize lethality.

Bryan: 14:00

Okay. Our Hornet fleet is currently going through the Hornet extension program phase two or HEP two. However, this will only serve to make our Hornets competition to our adversaries, not overmatch. Why is that?

Eric: 14:14

So, you know, our history on the fighter file has been interesting. We initially announced I think it was 02/2010, but I could be off by a year that we're gonna buy the f 35, 60 five of them. And then a couple years later, it was canceled. Then we said that we're gonna not buy that 35. Then we said we're gonna buy the Super Hornet.

Eric: 14:35

Then we said we're gonna run a competition. And then we bought that 35. And over that period of time, we've seen a lot of people get out because they were not happy with some of those decisions that were made, unfortunately. But in particular, we had to extend f 18 while we waited for the final decision to be made. We made the right decision to be very clear.

Eric: 14:55

The F-thirty five is by far the best aircraft. So we made the decision that we need to keep F-eighteen until 02/1932. We wanted to do what was required to make it relevant to 02/1932, while at the same time not using all of our money on the f 18 so that we can use it for other capabilities.

Bryan: 15:14

Right.

Eric: 15:14

So we made the conscious decision that we'll upgrade the radar. And it's already been delivered, not all of them, but several of our Hornets already have the new radar. It's called the active electronically scanned array radar, EASE radar, APG 79. So we have that radar in there. We have just acquired the AIM nine x.

Eric: 15:31

And we're getting a new Amram as well, which will be started to deliver this year. So when you put that together, with the new helmet system as well, and some other things that we've done with it, mode five as an example, And new Satcom. Now it has a capability to see and do something about cruise missiles. What we didn't do is do anything on the self protection side. Okay.

Eric: 15:56

Because the technology wasn't there. Our partner, the US Marine Corps weren't necessarily focused on that. So we made the conscious decision that we wouldn't technology was a limitation, but at the same time, we weren't gonna spend money on that, which means that it's limited in where it can operate. In other words, it would operate in more semi permissive permissive environments. So homeland defense.

Bryan: 16:18

Right. Which is the biggest ultimately, is maybe not the biggest, but certainly a very large priority for the the fighter fleet as we get through to having the f 35.

Eric: 16:28

Yeah. Now for the Department of Defense, everybody's very focused on continental defense, something we've been talking about for sixty seven years with NORAD. Now, it's the only thing people are talking about.

Bryan: 16:38

Yeah. So one of the biggest concerns throughout this large effort of modernization is the people problem as we've discussed a little. How are we planning to weather this period of transition and retain the experienced personnel such as air crew, maintainers, and support trades that will be needed to bring these capabilities online?

Eric: 16:55

We're doing a future structure review, which will look at what skill sets we need of the Air Force by 02/1935. And then I've approved the study of a couple of new occupations. As an example, a security force, RCF owned and managed occupation that is a security force. So we get away from doing wing auxiliary security forces as a secondary duty for technicians and supporters in many cases.

Bryan: 17:23

I'm sure that will be greeted with cheers by many.

Eric: 17:26

It will work to start in Coal Lake and Baggeville initially, and then look to grow that. So we're hoping to have that occupation studied and hopefully approved by next year. And then we'll start to recruit people into it. We're even looking at a new trade called air operation specialists, which as we look at the flight engineer, and load masters, and some of the roles that we're going to be doing in the future, we believe that a new trade called the flight operation specialist is required that will take some of those skill sets, and then be used for different fleets with specialties within them. Okay.

Eric: 17:58

So that's another thing that we're introducing. So all I'd say is that our current structure is not necessarily fit for purpose for the future. So what are the skill sets we need? Let's work backwards from there. Let's create occupations and then the training systems, enrollment system to get them in.

Eric: 18:12

So that's one step. The other step is to is making the difficult decisions on what you prioritize. We're doing less operations than we would like, because we're privileging where we can the modernization efforts. Because if they are delayed, then we're not gonna have the deterrence effect that I spoke about earlier. We won't have that lethal fighting force that we need to prevent a conflict from occurring in the first place or if required to fight and win.

Eric: 18:37

So prioritizing capabilities, with the lens of homeland defense is our number one mission. So by 2028, being able to do in a relevant way, continental defense, what are the capabilities that allow you to do that by 2028? Those are resourced at a higher priority, people and money. Doesn't mean that the things at the bottomless are not important. It just means that you may not get as much money or as many people.

Eric: 19:07

Nobody likes to be maybe sitting at the bottom. Doesn't just to be clear, it's not because you're not important. It's just we have to make decisions. We don't have enough resources to do everything.

Bryan: 19:16

Of course.

Eric: 19:17

Certain things are more important than others. So that's that's how we're getting after it.

Bryan: 19:20

Okay. So we've talked a little bit about 02/1935, Air Force '2 thousand '30 '5. So let's dive into that. Nearly two years ago, the RCAF released RCAF strategy agile, integrated, inclusive, which was a roadmap of sorts intended to guide the RCAF to 02/1935. Why is 02/1935 such a significant year?

Eric: 19:40

We selected 02/1935 because at the time that we wrote the strategy, most of the projects that we had in strong secure engaged or defense policy from 2017, and Narai modernization announced in 2022, we're going to be at full operational capability by 02/1935. It is not the timeframe I wanted, just to be clear, I would have rather said it was 02/1930. Sure. But just based on delivery schedule and how projects work, we would have the most lethal force we could have by 02/1935. And then we set a middle point of 2028, as I just described, of continental defense in a relevant way.

Eric: 20:21

So 02/1935 was more based on project delivery timelines. Okay. What's changed is that our assessment currently is that we need to be ready for major combat operations within the next five years. Right. Therefore, our 2028 goal is still very much aligned with that.

Eric: 20:43

But we need to think about what else we can pull left to deliver and have it in a capable way by by 02/1930. That includes making sure that all our current vacancies are filled no later than one April of twenty twenty nine. And we field as many of the capabilities that we've signed contracts for or that we're about to sign contracts for by that time, prioritizing certain ones over others where it makes sense for continental defense.

Bryan: 21:11

Okay. As part of the launch for the RCAF strategy, you stated that the RCAF command chief warrant officer, chief warrant officer Hall, and I recognize that our aviators and families display exceptional dedication and unwavering support, and we owe them the same. What efforts have been launched to show these families the dedication and support they deserve?

Eric: 21:32

I don't know about our our viewership, but I my family's effectively joined with me in the military and has been with me on this ride. Not for the full thirty six years that I've been in now, but for the vast majority of that for my spouse. And so this is a family endeavor, and it's only as strong as the family is in terms of our ability to support it. So we want to do everything we can to support families. We're the only service that has stood up a family advocate.

Eric: 22:04

We have a colonel who's assigned as a family advocate to kind of provide advice or guidance on what we can do to support families. We're the ones typically that are talking about how we need more daycare spaces, how we need to be able to share licenses between provinces, something that was being worked on with a project called seamless Canada over the last eight years, not a lot of success. Now changing because of the political dynamics whereby the provinces are opening up trade barriers. So now all of sudden things that we've been talking about for eight years where we wanted to take a professional license, say a nurse or a teacher from one province, spouse potentially move to another province and they have to start over. Sounds like those barriers might get knocked down just because of what's going on with the US administration, which is fantastic news for our members.

Eric: 22:54

Yeah. But just to be very clear, fully understood how our regular force reserve force, public service, NPF employees, our contractors, and our families come together to actually make their force as great as it is.

Bryan: 23:12

Yeah. Like you said, our families are basically in it with us. They don't get a choice. They're along for the ride. So I applaud any efforts that we can that we can have to make life better for them.

Eric: 23:21

Absolutely.

Bryan: 23:23

So the mission is defined as to generate relevant, responsive, and effective air and space power at home and abroad. What is our current top priority between these two theaters and are they connected?

Eric: 23:34

Top priority is at home, but there's always has to be a broad, component to that. So right now, our tactical aviation detachments in Latvia with a four pack of Griffins. We have three Herks in Prestwick. We have a maritime helicopter embarked on on a frigate. We have our CP one forties operating around the world and our mobility fleet, of course, operating around the world.

Eric: 23:57

While at home, we're doing search and rescue, we're doing an rad mission. But very clearly stated in our defense policy, North Stronger Free released a year ago, was that our number one job, and we said this for forever, but now really emphasize is continental defense. And with a renewed focus on the Arctic. So for the Air Force, nothing new. For everybody else, this is somewhat new.

Eric: 24:26

You know, talking to the army commander, he's like, okay, I got to figure out how our focus now is not on providing troops to Europe. But it's how did how does the army do continental defense? What's the Navy's role within that? And what special forces roles within that? So at home is the priority.

Eric: 24:44

We at the same time have made commitments to NATO in the Indo Pacific region, with North Korea's security, UN Security Council resolutions against North Korea and things such as that. So it's we're gonna do everything towards continental defense, plus those commitments that we have made, or the government has made, we'll sustain those. And there's a renewed emphasis on sovereignty now as well. So how do we do that more robustly and resiliently by Canada alone?

Bryan: 25:14

As part of this plan, we have four strategic objectives, value our people and invest in their future, be ready to conduct operations, modernize for tomorrow and engage in partner for success. Could you briefly outline these objectives and give an example of how we're planning to accomplish them?

Eric: 25:28

So I simplify them as people, readiness, modernization and partnerships. Okay. Under the people piece, this is about creating an environment atmosphere where everybody brings their authentic self, and they are able to contribute. If we can't have an environment where everyone is recognized for who they are and the strengths that they bring, we're not going to make the best decisions. So that's really important.

Eric: 25:54

In there is an ability to do the training and education required so that they can operate independently, but with mission command, understanding of how to get the mission done, and just do good things. Because let's be clear, we're gonna be operating in degraded environments where communications won't always be assured.

Bryan: 26:11

Under

Eric: 26:13

readiness, it's making sure that we're committing to the operations that we can sustain or for the periods of times that we say we can do it in a way that's credible. But at the same time, advocating for which and we're getting that funding to increase the parts that we have available to increase the amount of ammunition that we have available to increase infrastructure, so that we can fight from our wings, because that's what we do. People don't always think of it that way. Especially in a continental defense way. For modernization, it's about onboarding of all these new capabilities.

Eric: 26:48

We have $155,000,000,000 worth of projects in all the defense policies, 75 projects total. Actually, quite a bit of that is infrastructure as well. So we have a lot of money coming at us for a lot of projects, some of which we've never had, like the c q nine bravo, we're gonna call it the c q nine. And instead of calling it the Sky Guardian, we're calling it the Guardian. Okay.

Eric: 27:11

So the CQ nine Bravo Guardian, the remotely piloted aircraft system, is a brand new capability. The airborne early warning capability that got approved and funded, which I hope to see delivered in operations by 02/1935, will be a brand new capability. We've been doing it down in Tinker Air Force Base, Oprah in Alaska, or NATO. Now we're going to have our own aircraft and we're going to operate them. There's some brand new things that are coming along with that.

Eric: 27:37

And then finally, the partnerships. What I've always said in my career is that you need to reach across and form partnerships and relationships with folks that you don't typically talk to. Because you don't want to do it in time of crisis or in time of war. The first phone call you make to somebody shouldn't be how you're introducing yourself, it should be, hey, I need this from you, or how can I help you? And you've already formed that relationship.

Eric: 28:00

Right. So big focus on, obviously, with allies, Five Eyes, NATO, and others, but also across services, Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Forces, and then across government departments within the department, academics, and industry.

Bryan: 28:17

Okay. Let's move on and talk about Ukraine and global events. The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of air superiority and integrated air and missile defense. How has this conflict influenced your perspective on readiness and future investment in the RCAF?

Eric: 28:34

We're really proud of the fact that we've been helping with, in the lead up to the twenty twenty two invasion, which was the second invasion, as you know, 2014 being the first one. We did, you know, from 2015, Canadians train Ukrainians until the 2022 conflict. And then since then, we've been supporting either through reassurance or policing our press detachment delivering aid from different countries into Poland or other places to get to Ukraine. But what is highlighted is that air superiority is not assured. So going back to our discussion of counterinsurgency where we always had it.

Eric: 29:12

Now, neither Ukraine nor Russia is able to operate with air superiority. So what's happening? We're flying at low altitudes. They're, having to use new, not new tactics that we used to use during the cold war. Mhmm.

Eric: 29:29

And increased technology at range that allows them to do strike missions. But nobody has overall superiority, which is just leading to a war of attrition on the ground. Yeah. But if you actually were able to get that superiority, it would be a much different war as you know. So that means you need to have a combination of low tech, low cost systems and high-tech, high cost systems.

Eric: 29:52

And you need to have industrial capacity to sustain it, whether it's ammunition, parts, etc. Are one of the things announced in our policy last year was that Canada will invest in integrated air missile defense. It wasn't funded, was said we're going look at it and come back for funding. So the Air Force has taken the lead on that. We have a lot of the factors that you would need, whether it be P8s, F35s, RPAS, etcetera, that was coming.

Eric: 30:18

What we don't have is all the domain awareness that you need. Some of which is coming but slowly. And then one of the critical components is the c two system and domain command and control system that stitches all those things together. So you get the right decisions, information to decision makers, and then the ground based air defense is a key part that we don't have. So we're really advocating for that.

Eric: 30:41

So you need an effective ground based air defense, you need the ammo to sustain it, need the training, you know, all these things need to come together. That and one way attack drones, things such as that are watching, but what we're seeing in that is that, you know, one person, one country makes one version, and then the next country figures out a way to counter it. And it's just it's a constant evolution. So ability, digitally and things such as that to rapidly change that technology to always have the next level of capability will be true in any state on state conflict.

Bryan: 31:17

Okay. So we've already talked about the importance of state on state deterrence. We've talked about who our adversaries or potential adversaries are. You've been quoted as saying we don't currently have capability to conduct state on state deterrence. When do you see that as being something we will achieve and what milestones need to happen to get there?

Eric: 31:34

I think the I think many experts would agree to this statement, which is that you never really the only real deterrent out there is nuclear deterrence. At least it has been today. And, and so not advocating that Kanish needs to get nuclear deterrence. But beyond that, it's obviously in the adversaries calculus of mine as to whether or you're going to deter them. And we often assume that if we're if we be deterred, then we assume that they would be deterred.

Eric: 32:02

We need to fully understand how the adversary thinks and their ambitions to fully understand how we can best deter them. But, you know, right now, we have huge domain awareness gaps in Canada. We have huge communication gaps within Canada. We are onboarding new weapons for the f 18. We have a new cloud based command and control system at our Canadian air defense sector in North Bay Yep.

Eric: 32:29

Which is using AI machine learning, which is which is fantastic, and we're moving ahead in that. But our ability to stitch it all together in a way that actually is a deterrent to Russia, to China, is, some ways away. So I try to be very realistic that and recognize that we made decisions based on our counterinsurgency type approach. Now I've stayed on state. We're behind the curve, but quickly catching up to speak clear so that we can have a real deterrent effect.

Bryan: 33:01

So it's no secret that there has been significant political friction with one of our greatest historical allies, The United States. Is it time for Canada to pursue an independent strategic deterrence to be managed by the RCAF on behalf of Canada, or do we need to continue to focus on working as partners? And just for the listeners to be clear, we're recording this in mid March. This is not coming out until April or May. So of course, this situation is constantly evolving.

Eric: 33:25

Yeah. When it when it does come out, I'm gonna have to listen to what I said because the the situation will be much different by the time this comes out. So I'll start off with at this stage, our partnership with the US military is very strong. No changes occurring. We have Canadians that are embedded in many US organizations to include NORAD, just like we have American military embedded in Canadian units, and operating with them around the world.

Eric: 33:51

That relationship remains very strong.

Bryan: 33:53

Okay.

Eric: 33:56

But it is making us think and realize as Canadians, that there is a role, a bigger role that the Canadians and the government needs to take in terms of making sure we can protect and defend our own sovereignty. And that if required, you're assured an ability to do so without allies and partners.

Bryan: 34:22

Okay.

Eric: 34:22

It doesn't mean that there's a change in our military relationship. So what does that mean? That means, as an example, there's an increased understanding that we have not invested in our Canadian industrial base to produce aircraft that are military grade, or maybe ammo or other things, whereby if the borders were closed and COVID this happened, and we realized when it came to flu shot or the shot immunizations, That if you don't have your own domestic capacity, then you're relying on others. And when those borders get closed, then what do you do? So we're seeing a desire to invest more in Canadian companies.

Eric: 35:17

Even if it means that the product that we get will take longer to get it.

Bryan: 35:21

Okay.

Eric: 35:21

Because now we build our own industrial base, which makes us stronger as we move forward. That's a change. And then their change is a recognition, very clear recognition that we need to do something about integrated missile air missile defense that goes beyond just f 35 or f 18. And so Okay, I'm asked almost every day how I can accelerate things and fill things quicker. I then remind them there's this really complicated process for how we do that.

Eric: 35:49

And we don't have all the people we need. And so that's why we're trying to bring in as many and retain as many people as we can. Okay.

Bryan: 35:57

So with increases in tariffs and heating rhetoric, is there any concern over the many procurement plans for new platforms that we have coming from The United States in terms of costs or even in terms of cancellations?

Eric: 36:09

Definitely no cancellations at this stage. Everything that we have on contract is going I won't say completely the plan because there is some delays in some of the projects. But F35, as an example, is on track at this stage. We'll get our first ones next year, late next year. We're posting people down in The States already to start with a reprogramming lab.

Eric: 36:29

And and the air crews that will be flying F35, the first ones will be posted down to The States next summer. So the ones that we're seeing potential delays in or waiting to hear more is the p eight might be a little bit delayed for expecting in the summer twenty six. So we're just waiting to see if that's actually gonna be the case or not.

Bryan: 36:45

Okay.

Eric: 36:46

But so no change to any of the contracts at this stage. And, you know, if you look at the f 35, there's 36 Canadian companies that contribute parts to f 35. For every f 35 that's produced, there's $2,000,000 worth of Canadian produced parts on that f 35. Wow. We're so integrated, because we're a partner nation in f 35.

Eric: 37:08

That's just the way it works. We're so integrated in everything that we do. That, which I think is very special that, know, delinking the stage from a procurement perspective would be extremely challenging. So we're we have people posted down in The States that are starting their training on the p eight. And I'm quite excited about some of the capabilities we're getting.

Eric: 37:29

But at the same time, we're looking at where there's other options available, then, you know, maybe diversifying a little bit is probably a good idea too.

Bryan: 37:36

Okay. So good news though, in terms of our current, current projects.

Eric: 37:39

Yep.

Bryan: 37:41

Has there been any consideration to try to get full or partial software independence on any of these new platforms to insulate us from any future volatility from The United States?

Eric: 37:50

Where we can. Some contracts so the f 35 because we are a partner nation, we were part of the original MOU for the the development of it. We've always we sit at the table, and we have a vote on what goes into f 35. And we have been since we joined that program. But then there's some other things that we buy, the p eight would be an example where it's a foreign military sale.

Eric: 38:13

So we buy the platform, the software that comes with it. But then we create a sustainment program that will allow us to get IP rates, software development updates, and things such as that. Each contract is different. And I'm not saying that PH specifically will allow us to do our own software, because it's not always the best idea to have your own software. Sometimes it's good to go with what's created for everybody.

Eric: 38:36

Sure.

Bryan: 38:36

It takes a lot of A lot of effort. Yeah. And a lot of people to make that happen to work out the bugs to develop it. It's a lot of work.

Eric: 38:44

Yeah. So for f 35, what makes f 35 the most lethal platform is the mission data file that goes within it. And that is could be produced at Australia, Canada, UK Reprogramming Lab, which is located down in Florida. So The UK and Australia have been doing it since they've had f 35 for years, almost a decade. We just joined that program.

Eric: 39:09

And so we have got some Canadians down there, we're sending some more Canadians down there. Our very first f 35 will fly with a Canadian made mission data load, working with Australia and UK. And so that's important that we have that that sovereignty and understanding over data. So things such as that are definitely being looked at where we can.

Bryan: 39:27

Okay. Let's talk a little about the future of the RCAF. July of twenty twenty two, three Canadian Space Division was stood up. Do you see it as playing an increasingly important role in the defense of Canada and why?

Eric: 39:39

Space is the ultimate high ground. You know, when I go and talk to general Whiting, he is The US Space Commander, command commander, which is a combatant command down in Colorado Springs, or General Saltzman, who's the chief of space operations, effectively their commander of their space force down in Pentagon. They remind me, that their AOR is 100 kilometers and above. It's the biggest area of responsibility out of any of the combatant commands. And it goes now to assist lunar.

Eric: 40:07

So what we have recognized is that we're fully reliant. We've known this, but it's become more acute now that there's anti space capabilities, whether they're from the ground or space that threaten the peaceful use of space. And there's no responsible space behaviors that all countries have signed up to, to speak Yeah. Space is where we get our ISR, where we get our SATCOM, it's where we get our weather without and our missile warning and tracking. So without space, then you have a huge vulnerability.

Eric: 40:41

You can't talk to each other because the SATCOM is an example. You don't see what's happening in another area because you don't have the ISR, space based ISR. So we need to make sure that we defend and protect our space assets, which is one of our missions for three Canadian Space Division, while working with our partners and allies. Canada, we're setting up a new one star position in Vandenberg, California this summer. The new position is a Deputy Joint Force Base Component Commander for US Space Command.

Eric: 41:14

And it was designed to be allied and Canada will be the first country to be that in that position. Brigadier general Kyle Paul is gonna go into that position.

Bryan: 41:23

Okay.

Eric: 41:23

And he'll work for an American three star. The other two nations that will go into that position are Australia and The UK.

Bryan: 41:30

Okay.

Eric: 41:31

New Zealand may as well. I I volunteered us to go in first, got the chief of defense staff approval, and we're gonna be well integrated. Because Canada was the first third country to launch something in space. Like we have a huge space history. Mhmm.

Eric: 41:43

And in particular with NORAD as well. So if we don't defend and protect space, then all a sudden, everything we have built will not be able to, be effective. So our ability to, sustain that is really important.

Bryan: 42:01

Okay. So looking beyond 2035, what are some of the emerging technologies and capabilities that will shape the future of the RCAF?

Eric: 42:11

So there's a lot of discussion about sixth gen. I'm just focused on getting us to fifth gen in the shorter term right now. But one of the the big things and we we've touched on some of it already is integrated missile defense. So how do we how do we what is that? And how do we better define it and actually put it into place so we can do continental defense effectively and with a deterrence?

Eric: 42:36

The things that we're now looking at are air launched effects, one way attack drones, or small UASs, and then human machine teaming, collaborative combat aircraft. There's a counter UAS. There's a whole bunch of things that mainly driving from the Ukraine conflict. I have to admit that because of the many things that have been approved in policy, strong, secure, engaged, norad mod, and then our North Stronger Free most recently, We're getting pretty much everything that we've asked for. There's a couple things that we're not.

Eric: 43:17

And that is on the next list.

Bryan: 43:19

Okay.

Eric: 43:20

Which is a list related to 2% and you know, how quickly do we get to two percent in investments? And then what if NATO goes much higher than that, which is anticipated, upwards of three or three and a half percent.

Bryan: 43:33

Okay.

Eric: 43:33

And if Canada if Canada agrees to that. So we have given everything that we can think of right now. And to the point where, because we're onboarding so many things, we have to make decisions about where people are prioritized. We're taking some of the people that are at the aerospace warfare center who typically be looking at what's our future requirements and bring them on delivery of these capabilities because we're getting pretty much everything we ever imagined we need.

Bryan: 44:01

Right.

Eric: 44:01

We just now don't need to bring it in.

Bryan: 44:03

That makes sense. Basically, the current focus is on onboarding all this new tech that's gonna bring us to 2035.

Eric: 44:10

Yeah. And then, you know, quantum computing. How do we maximize the use of AI but recognize that it we do it in a responsible way?

Bryan: 44:18

Mhmm.

Eric: 44:18

And then it's the command and control and the interconnection. How do we make sure that all these sensors, because that's what they primarily are, are able to get the information in a timely fashion to the decision makers.

Bryan: 44:33

Mhmm. And I'm gonna ask some questions in a moment about some of that managing that that new sensor data. So with that, let's move on to some questions from the audience. Can you tell us about a policy change the RCAF has undertaken that was spurred on by member feedback or suggestions? Essentially, what are we doing to take in the feedback suggestions and ideas from members and action them?

Eric: 44:55

Maybe I'll give you two.

Bryan: 44:56

Okay.

Eric: 44:57

One was a desire to serve beyond 60. And I don't know how many so I approve all reserve force requests to serve beyond 60 up to 65. I've signed hundreds in the last couple of years, hundreds. I get usually a couple every week that I sign off on. We have a strong desire to serve beyond 60.

Eric: 45:20

And so that's a policy change. Where 60, you're out, doesn't matter if you're fit, doesn't matter if you're contributing. Now, there's flexibility. I'll give you maybe one that resonated quite a bit was through what we call vector check. One of the proposals staffed up was, hey, we'd like to get an RCF ball cap like the Navy has.

Eric: 45:43

And it took not that long to get that approved. It took a while to get it produced and distributed. And I think that was viewed in a very positive manner by many aviators.

Bryan: 45:57

Definitely.

Eric: 45:58

That that's one that came from the bottom up that was ultimately released.

Bryan: 46:03

Yeah. I know that one was popular for sure. Obviously, I can't comment as much on the serving beyond 60 because that's just not where me and my peers were at yet. But I know for sure that the ball caps were were highly appreciated. I mean, we typically outside of any community that's wearing a helmet, you wear one while you fly.

Bryan: 46:22

It's nice to be able to wear it once you leave the aircraft as well. So yeah. To what extent does the Canadian Armed Forces prioritize recruitment efforts relative to retention strategies? There seems to be some feeling that recruitment is a higher priority.

Eric: 46:36

My whole career most of my career, we've always been in this dilemma of only being able to train enough people that we can absorb. And so my background is, know, as fighters, what I saw happen over many years is we were having, say 16 fighter pilots released per year. And we were training 12. Right. And so every time we said, well, we need to train at least 16.

Eric: 47:06

The answer was, well, we can't absorb that. So the answer was, we're going to continue to decrease in our numbers. Right. Year over year. Yet, we did it for ten years in a row.

Eric: 47:17

And now we have way too few people that are fighting pilots. So the other approach could be a mobilization approach, like we did during the Second World War, Very small, broken air force, couple thousand to be the fourth largest air force in the world six years later. Right. So it is possible to rapidly onboard people. It means you're taking you're doing things differently.

Eric: 47:45

It doesn't mean you're changing standards, but you have to do things differently. You have to recognize the skill sets of the people that you're bringing on board. If you don't do that, you just won't grow. Now, of course, you have to retain the experience that you have. So there's a balance that has to be played.

Eric: 48:00

But over our history, our release rate is typically around five or 6%, which is a very healthy attrition rate. That's, you know, any organization that had attrition rate of that would be very happy. And you're always gonna have attrition, you're always gonna have like, that's just, it's natural, actually, you do need to have that in your organization. But what you want to do is have because it takes so long to get the skill sets that we need to get the experience we need, as compared to other services. There is a period of time that we need those experienced personnel to stay on.

Eric: 48:35

And for those that stay on for thirty five, forty, forty five years, and I know several truly appreciate what they do, but every person contributes. So how do you establish a retention model that suits each individual recognizing that their family has a vote in that? But at the end of the day, if you don't rapidly increase our recruitment and onboard them, we will just not grow. Right. And if we don't grow, we're not going to deter.

Eric: 49:08

If we don't deter, we're not gonna be ready for a potential major combat operation in the next five years. Okay. So so it's that kind of mindset of mobilization, while retaining. And I I do believe that if you'd I think there's a sharper focus on what we're doing and why we're doing it, that will help inner retention.

Bryan: 49:30

As we come more operations focused essentially?

Eric: 49:33

Yeah. Like I'm approaching retirement shortly. And I gotta tell you, I feel super guilty about it. Especially in this time of geopolitical instability. That's last thing I want to do is get out right now.

Eric: 49:45

When I say get out, retire, I mean. Because I feel like I can do so much more. But we all have to make a decision at some point. And there's others that will continue to hold that mantle and move it forward. So you would hear recruitment is the priority.

Eric: 50:02

That's absolutely true. Because if you don't onboard homeless people, but at the same time, retention has to be there. And what everything we can do. So it's it is a balance. The harder thing with retention is many of the policy aspects that go along with retention, whether it's compensation and benefits or just policies, Air Force does not own.

Eric: 50:24

Yeah. And so it's a lot of advocacy. And it's in many cases, the Department of Defense doesn't own it. So we have to go to Treasury Board or others. So it's not that we don't think it's important.

Eric: 50:34

It's just our mechanisms to do that. If you understand what your mission is, and you have a chain of command who supports you, and treats you like an individual for who you are, allows you to come and and actually contribute to the mission with the family support that we can best enable, then now it's a career and there is a willingness hopefully to continue to serve.

Bryan: 50:57

Okay. On the topic of retention, what is being done in the next year to improve the lives of members of the RCAF?

Eric: 51:05

So there's I'll go to what he said. There's some things that are gonna take a little bit longer than others. I believe we're doing a better job of having a discussion with our aviators with their chain of command to understand their unique family situation and their aspirations. We talk about it all the time, but it's, I know it's not the reality on the ground everywhere, just be clear. We are, because of funding we received last year, we're starting to build residential housing units, some of our bases and wings that are gonna start breaking ground this year, something that housing is a big issue, as you know, that are one that's often talked about is childcare.

Eric: 51:44

And we just received a lot of funding towards childcare. So we're gonna, we have to work with not for profit organizations to provide childcare services, increased childcare services across many of our wings. Those are those are things that are starting to happen as early as this summer. Okay. Not at all locations, just to be clear.

Eric: 52:00

Because there still needs to be a lot more investment that comes in to that. And then in our discussions on 2%, how quickly we go there. The first thing that's in there is people. Our North Strong and Free policy that was released a year ago, talked a lot about it. There's no funding that was actually allocated to people.

Eric: 52:21

So we now have calculated what the funding component is. I'm not just saying pay or benefits. I'm also talking about all those other tangible things that actually allow a family to feel supported, are now part of that to include expanded housing, expanded childcare, and additional support services. We have a virtual telemedicine capability that's provided, that was initially put together in the pandemic that it remains enduring, we continue to pay for that. So if you move to a new province, you can't get health care, because it's so hard to get family doctors, then you can go into the virtual health care and be prescribed something.

Eric: 52:57

It's not what we want, but at least it's available to you.

Bryan: 53:00

Okay.

Eric: 53:00

To our families. So these are some of the things. And now with the provinces agreeing to remove some of the provincial jurisdictions with respect to licensing, of the things that we've been trying to get after for a while, For professionals, spouses in particular. I think that's gonna, really if that goes through, and we'll see by the time the podcast comes out, then we can really, I think we'll see some really big difference for our families when they move in there seeking

Bryan: 53:26

for

Eric: 53:26

spouses employment.

Bryan: 53:28

Now all we need is those nationwide driver's licenses and health cards that people have been wanting.

Eric: 53:34

I'm not gonna say we're gonna get that anytime soon.

Bryan: 53:36

No. I know. That's probably a bridge too far. So we talked a little about managing data from all our new sensor platforms. Many of our new platforms such as the P8A Poseidon and the CQ9B Guardian are sensor platforms that are going to produce a ton of data.

Bryan: 53:53

What are we doing to invest in support programs to ensure we have the people and software to analyze make use of the data these platforms are bringing in? Are we going to run things the exact same way we use our Aurora? Are we going to be able to benefit from the enhanced capabilities of these platforms?

Eric: 54:08

Of course, the goal is to enhance and not do the things things exactly the same way. One of the things that we are going to establish as part of our structure review isn't what we call an ISR squadron. We think it's about 300 people. And this would be new. It'd be a new squadron that does intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance.

Eric: 54:29

And so they would take the feed from the p eight and they would be the ones that would work it.

Bryan: 54:33

Okay.

Eric: 54:34

We need to work with CF intelligence command. So CF intelligence command has recognized that they're only gonna have so much capacity and that the services need to have their own organic capacity. That ISR squadron right now is not envisioned to support that 35, just to be clear. So that's a kind of a separate thing. But that would be what would take the CQ nine that would would take the p eight and make it into a true capability.

Eric: 55:02

Not yet fully developed and won't be because we're going to grow it, develop for some time. But that's so those are some of the things and then it's also the pipes that feed all this, whether it's through satcom or through land based or five gs or whatever, we're working very closely with digital services. Of course, the way our projects are designed, it doesn't include all these things. Right. So they're all individual projects.

Eric: 55:30

And we've now done a really good job, think, mapping all these and the interdependencies and where some things are happening later than they need to be trying to shift them.

Bryan: 55:38

Okay. So I'm very interested to hear your insight on this as a graduate of the fighter weapons instructor course. The old air warfare game used to be about being an expert tactician and solid instructor in your platform, which things like Topgundo and fighter weapons instructor course did. There's another layer though, which is being able to integrate all aspects of aerospace and cyber power to lead in planning, execution, tactics, development, and so on. Courses like the USAP's weapons school, the RAF's qualified weapons instructor, and RAAF's air warfare instructor course do this.

Bryan: 56:12

Will we be standing up a course to help us take in full advantage of fifth gen capabilities?

Eric: 56:17

We're not there yet. I I think the best example would be the vast Tactics Weapon Instructor course at WIC that were we just ran a serial through in the fall last year. Okay. It's kind of a derivative of TWIC, the tactical electronic warfare instructor course. And fire weapons instructor course kind of merged a little bit, but it's still under development.

Eric: 56:47

One of the challenges that we ran into that course was having the people with the right security clearances at the highest levels to be able to do the full course. So we started the course with a larger number that not everybody can complete the course because they couldn't get their highest level security clearance in time, which by the way is being addressed because we've hired 60 people now. Okay. So start doing security clearances recently.

Bryan: 57:07

Well, that's good news.

Eric: 57:10

So that's that right now, that's kind of the main model. But our aerospace warfare center is connected with The UK, Australian and US. And so we, we do leverage a lot of the work that they're doing as well. And where we can put people on courses such as that, we can only do so much at a time. So that's, know, I'd like to give a bit a better answer, but that's I think Atwick would be the best example.

Bryan: 57:31

Okay. And hopefully with further development in the future.

Eric: 57:34

Yep. Okay.

Bryan: 57:37

So this has been, an issue for a while. It's a well known issue that there are many, many pilot trainees stuck in the backlog taking years to get qualified. What is the RCAF doing to streamline training to reduce the backlog and time wasted waiting? And has there been any thought to expansion in Moose Jaw for greater training capacity?

Eric: 57:54

So if I was to go back to 2020, the one decision I would have made different is not to shut down flying training during COVID.

Bryan: 58:03

Yeah.

Eric: 58:04

Just because it's so hard to shut it. Well, it wasn't hard to shut it down. It was so hard to turn it back on. Right. Which is what's created our backlog, as you know, so.

Eric: 58:14

So if you're starting pilot training shortly, or you're gonna be on phase one right now, you've come in at the perfect time. We're actually canceling a phase one course because we have nobody to load on it. Oh. The wait time for phase one I think is two months, and phase two is three months if you're starting. But we have this group that started during the pandemic that's still not necessarily finished phase three, who are waiting, I think it was six hundred days from phase two to phase three.

Bryan: 58:46

Oh, that hurts.

Eric: 58:47

Right? So that bubble is almost at phase three or through phase three. The way we tried to address that bubble was a couple of things. One, we reduced the number of pilots we were enrolling. And you got to think of those that are going to go through university, people we enrolled today will graduate in now 2029.

Eric: 59:10

So you got to think that far out. But we had already made decisions. So we had a whole bunch of people graduating out of universities. And nothing was happening from a training perspective. That's what created that huge bubble.

Eric: 59:20

Right. And our training capacity is fixed at a certain amount. So that bubble was addressed by getting slots down at NGEP, your own NATO jet training program, where we got a whole bunch of T six slots. And so we're able to do a lot of phase two training down there that other nations weren't using because there's problems with their T 38. I forget the exact number of people we ended up getting down there, but I want to say it's over 30.

Bryan: 59:46

Okay.

Eric: 59:47

So that that was a way to actually address some of the phase two bubble that we had, which pushed to the phase three, which is what we're seeing now. The projections right now is that in the next year to year and a half, that bubble should be through. And I I've it pains me to no end that people have had to wait that long just to be clear. It's not something I wanted to ever have. But those who are graduating in the summer from university should be able to transition on the phase one by then in the summer.

Eric: 01:00:17

And then projections are about I think it's about three months to phase two and then about six months to phase three.

Bryan: 01:00:23

Okay.

Eric: 01:00:24

So it'll be a much quicker process. Give me about another year to year and a half and that should all play out. To the point where we almost didn't allow any pilots to be enrolled last year. Right. Going to university because they would graduate in 2028, or they will graduate in 2028, which is when we're going to shut down NATO flying training in Canada and contract flying training system in Portage and transition to future crew training.

Eric: 01:00:52

And the future crew training not may not be fully up. So what we were what we didn't want to do is have people graduate just as everything shut down.

Bryan: 01:00:59

Basically run into another giant bubble.

Eric: 01:01:01

In our bubble. Or the other thing we want we're trying to prevent is people grad kind of halfway through say phase two on NFTC and now fact starts up and there's they're not the same thing and how do you go from phase two NFTC to phase three fact. So that's what we're trying to prevent. But at the same time, there's always gonna be other opportunities. So I didn't we didn't shut it down.

Eric: 01:01:23

But we really reduced the numbers. And right now, it's all looking like we should have all those that we've enrolled to be pilots graduate and be able to get through course on time.

Bryan: 01:01:33

Okay. You never know this is this could be where your experience with creative flight training solutions could come in handy where you did a totally non standard phase one.

Eric: 01:01:42

Yeah. Exactly. It's it's very possible. We've done it throughout our history. And we've and I've I've talked to our allies and many have stepped up and given us thoughts.

Bryan: 01:01:51

That's awesome. We've talked a lot about the c q nine Guardian coming online. And one thing we haven't discussed is who will be crewing it. I believe it's going to be still flown by pilots. Why are we still using fully trained pilots to fly our pass systems when some of our peer nations are not?

Eric: 01:02:08

So the c q nine bravo Guardian will be a fully certified platform able to fly in all air spaces. There will be a requirement to have, from a civilian equivalency perspective, civil aircrew or pilot certification, which is what drove us along the path of selecting it to be a pilot. It's different than m q nine alpha, just to be clear. So it's not like the predator. It's not like the reaper either.

Eric: 01:02:36

Because this has, TCAS.

Bryan: 01:02:39

TCAS is traffic alert and collision avoidance system.

Eric: 01:02:43

It has an ability to fly in all air spaces, segregated, unsegregated, which is not how their platforms are used currently. Australia sorry, The UK is getting SkyGuardian as well. And I think they call it the protector. Their person flying it will be a pilot.

Bryan: 01:03:01

Okay.

Eric: 01:03:02

In fact, The US went down a path where they weren't using pilots. And then they've gone back to a path where they're using pilots. So the Korean composition right now, I just approved this the other day, a slight change. So it'll be a pilot who will fly it, an Aesop who will be the sensor operator. And the third position in which initially going to be an intelligence operator, int op.

Eric: 01:03:24

What we recognize is that person doesn't actually have a role to do intelligence processing, that'll be the ISR squadron in the feed that'll go back. And so I disapproved that it'll be Axel or combat system operator, that will fill the third position as the tactical coordinator. Okay. If you think about the roar of your background, it's effectively that role. Yep.

Eric: 01:03:43

Coordination. And so those three people will be one crew and they'll work as a team to deliver the facts with the Guardian.

Bryan: 01:03:55

What level of training will the pilot receive? Is it gonna be fully, phase one, phase two, phase three? Or what's the plan there?

Eric: 01:04:02

Wing standard. Whether it is jet or multi engine or helicopter, I haven't, I don't have a good answer on that one yet. Okay. But it's it's a wing standard pilot.

Bryan: 01:04:12

Okay. Very interesting. Thank you for for answering that one. So our last question from the audience. CAF procurement has been notoriously slow and the RCAF is no exception.

Bryan: 01:04:24

For example, thirty two years to replace a helicopter. What if anything are the RCAF, the CAF and the government of Canada doing to mitigate these issues in order to procure equipment, resources, and capabilities in the future?

Eric: 01:04:35

In December of this past year, '20 '20 '4, the government made a change to contracting, regulations, which allows us when we do a national security exemption to go sole source. Not widely talked about. We pretty much do national security exemptions for everything we buy. So our ability to go sole source much easier now. Okay.

Eric: 01:04:57

Two, we're doing a lot more partnerships with industry. As an example, fighter lead in training, the future fighter lead in training as we call it, to replace the Hawks that were retired last year. That project right now, if we had done the normal procurement approach would likely deliver in the 02/2036 timeline. Ten, twelve years from when we retired the Hawk. But we have partnered with CAE who does NFTC, who did our fire lead in training for us before.

Eric: 01:05:29

They have been selected by us and the government of Canada to be our strategic partner. They're gonna help us define the requirements and form the contract. And with that, we estimate that we'll be initial capable flying in 02/1931.

Bryan: 01:05:44

Okay. That's great news.

Eric: 01:05:46

So we we did something else with L3Harris. We're about to do something else with another, organization that we might hear about soon.

Bryan: 01:05:52

Okay.

Eric: 01:05:53

So we're we're doing things much differently and there's the sense of urgency in Ottawa and within the government right now is primarily because of what's going on in the world situation, but as well with what's happening on the US administration side is there. I I've never seen so much willingness to move things along quickly.

Bryan: 01:06:13

Well, that's good news for us. Yeah. That does it for our questions from the audience. Final question for you. What message would you like to share with the men and women of the RCAF as they work to meet the challenges of today and prepare for the future?

Eric: 01:06:27

So I fully recognize that there's uncertainty, concern, as Canadians about everything that's going on here in Canada, around the world with the US administration. I ask that we remain focused on our enduring adversaries and understand what our mission set is that we are seeking to accomplish, which is to achieve operational advantages and agile, integrated, inclusive air and space force. We will do that with the people that we have and the people that we will soon enroll in both the air and space side. But we have to be very clear that we don't have a lot of time. So there's an urgency and a pace component to this, to prepare ourselves for potential major combat operations with a ready, resilient, relevant, and lethal force that can deter the adversaries from doing something, but if required to fight and win.

Eric: 01:07:25

So I just want to thank all our aviators, all our regular force, reserve force, public service, NPF, contractors and families who support that mission. Because without the entire team, we will not be successful. And I could not think of a more noble thing to do. Having served for thirty six years now, I joined, I wanted to travel around the world. I wanted to do something for Canada.

Eric: 01:07:52

I've had that opportunity. Situation is completely different now, thirty six years later. And, and I'm hopeful that we as a team can move forward to, to protect Canadians and give the government options. Okay. As well, I got to thank you, Brian, like thank you for everything that you do and for your advocacy.

Eric: 01:08:15

Because without podcasts such as this, we're not able to speak to all of our audiences. And so I commend you for everything you're doing as well.

Bryan: 01:08:23

It's my pleasure. I love doing the show. And I love having guests like you on it. So, with that being said, this wraps up our chat today on your position as commander of RCAF and the current state and future of the RCAF as well as some audience questions. It's been a huge honor to have you on the show today, and I really wanna thank you for giving me some of your time.

Bryan: 01:08:41

Thank you so much.

Eric: 01:08:42

Thank you.

Bryan: 01:08:43

Okay. That wraps up our two part series with lieutenant general Eric Kenny on his career and the Royal Canadian Air Force. For our next episode, we're gonna be starting a two part series that is super exciting. We'll be sitting down with retired fighter pilot, Dan McWilliams. Dan was a Cold War fighter pilot.

Bryan: 01:08:59

He was one of the first cadres on the CF eighteen Hornet, and he's also flown several other classic Cold War fighter jets. It's going to be a great interview. You don't wanna miss this one. Do you have any questions or comments about anything you've heard in this show? Would you or someone you know make a great guest, or do you have a great idea for a show?

Bryan: 01:09:17

You can reach out to us at the pilotprojectpodcast@Gmail.com or on all social media at at pod pilot project. And be sure to check out that social media for lots of great videos of our RCAF aircraft. As always, we'd like to thank you for tuning in and ask for your help with the big three. That's like and follow us on social media, share with your friends, and follow and rate us five stars wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for now.

Bryan: 01:09:40

Thanks for listening. Keep the blue side up. See you. Engineer, shut down all four. Shutting down all four engines.