]Canada plans anti-sub exercises in Arctic

[SARgirl]

Canada plans anti-sub exercises in Arctic
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceAugust 7, 2009 2:01 PM

Link:
http://www.canada.com/news/Canada+plans+anti+exercises+Arctic/1870642/story.html

Caption Under Photo on News Link:
HMCS Fredericton at anchor in Frobisher Bay near the city of Iqaluit, Nunavut. The Canadian military will conduct 'anti-submarine warfare' exercises during its annual Arctic sovereignty operation, which begins this week near Baffin Island.

News Story:
Just a month after two nuclear-powered Russian subs cracked through sea ice near the North Pole to test fire two long-range missiles, the Canadian military will conduct "anti-submarine warfare" exercises during its annual Arctic sovereignty operation, which begins this week near Baffin Island.

The massive training mission, involving some 700 personnel from the Canadian Forces and a host of federal and territorial agencies, will also feature a simulated security emergency involving a "suspected downed unmanned aerial vehicle."

Details about the Canadian Forces' three-week "Nanook 09" operation were released Friday at a Halifax press conference hosted by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who last week voiced concerns about a planned Russian paratrooper drop at the North Pole, scheduled for next spring to mark the anniversary of a Cold War parachute jump by two Soviet scientists.

While planning for Nanook 09 has been going on for months, the recent Russian missile tests and the planned bolstering of northern military might among all five polar nations gives this year's war-games exercise in Nunavut an added sense of real-world currency.

Canada, Russia, the U.S., Norway and Denmark — the only five countries with Arctic Ocean coastlines — have all agreed to peacefully sort out looming seabed boundary disputes under a UN treaty. But a host of potential challenges and opportunities related to the melting of the Arctic ice cover — including increased ship traffic, possible terrorist activity, an oil exploration boom, search-and-rescue gaps and environmental risks — have heightened global interest in the polar realm, and prompted some experts to warn that military tensions could rise in the region despite genuine, multilateral efforts to avoid conflict.

Nanook 09 is the main element in a three-pronged Arctic training schedule this summer for the Canadian Forces that includes Operation Nunakput in the Western Arctic and Operation Nunalivut amid the remote islands of the High Arctic.

The Baffin Island exercises, which run through Aug. 28, will coincide with a visit to Iqaluit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is expected to visit a Canadian warship and submarine during his Aug. 17-21 tour of the North.

 

[SARgirl]

I thought I would post the below information in the same thread, since it is, more or less, on the same topic.

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PM visits with Canadian forces participating in Operation Nanook 09
Personally witnesses the largest military exercise designed to protect Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.

19 August 2009
Iqaluit, Nunavut

Link:
http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=2755

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today visited with Canadian Forces personnel participating in the military component of Operation NANOOK 09, a major whole-of-government exercise designed to build Canada’s capability to assert Canadian sovereignty and respond to emergencies throughout the Arctic.

“Operation NANOOK is a valuable training opportunity for Canadian Forces personnel,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was joined by Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay and Chief of the Defence Staff General Walt Natynczyk in observing the NANOOK 09 military exercise.  “Operation NANOOK shows that Canada has both the operational capacity and the resolve necessary to assert our Arctic sovereignty over land, sea and air.”

Operation NANOOK 09 is taking place from August 6 to 28, 2009.  Throughout this period the Canadian Forces will demonstrate a visible presence with land, sea and air forces operating in the Baffin Island region.  The operation includes sovereignty patrols, a military exercise, and a whole-of-government exercise designed to demonstrate Canada’s ability to operate in the North.

This year’s operation will include an anti-submarine warfare exercise with Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Toronto and Glace Bay, and HMCS Cornerbrook, one of Canada’s four Victoria-class submarines.  Land forces, comprised of Canadian Rangers and the Arctic Reserve Company Group from Ontario, will also deploy forward with the Navy and in Canadian Coast Guard Ship Pierre Radisson.  The Air Force will be flying the CP-140 Aurora, CH-124 Sea King, CC-138 Twin Otter, CF-18 Hornet and CC-130 Hercules aircraft, while Transport Canada will be flying the Dash-7 throughout the exercise.  Following the military exercise, government agencies will turn their attention to supporting Nunavut’s Emergency Management Organization in their own exercise to test emergency preparedness in response to a critical infrastructure failure.

“I am always impressed by the professionalism and resourcefulness of the men and women of the Canadian Forces,” said the Prime Minister.  “Canadians can be proud of all that they do to protect our borders, respond to emergencies, and keep Canadians safe.”

 

[SARgirl]

PM, military flex Arctic muscle

Harper flies Sea King, takes helm of submarine to stress importance of protecting the North

Aug 20, 2009 04:30 AM
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa bureau chief

Caption under Photo
Prime Minister Stephen Harper rode a Zodiac with Gen. Walter Natynczyk, right, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay to board the sub HMCS Corner Brook, south of Iqaluit. (Aug. 19, 2009)

Link
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/683187

News Story

ONBOARD HMCS TORONTO–In a display of bravado, boasts and a flexing of military might, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vowed to stand up to nations that are already "probing" Canada's North.

Harper led the charge yesterday as he took the controls of a Sea King helicopter, took the helm of a submarine as it slipped below the waters of Frobisher Bay and promised that Canada would protect its northern interests.

With melting sea ice opening up northern sea lanes, Harper said the strategic value of the Arctic region has never been greater.

"We must never forget that just as the eyes of southern Canadians gaze northward, so, too, do those beyond our borders," Harper said yesterday during a visit to the frigate HMCS Toronto as it cruised the waters south of Iqaluit.

"With other countries probing our North – by sea and in the air – the work you are doing here to protect our sovereignty has never been more important," Harper told sailors assembled on the ship's bow.

It's a message Harper has delivered before but never with such a backdrop of military hardware to drive home his point of safeguarding the North.

Sailing on Frobisher Bay under a cloudless sky, HMCS Toronto was joined in a carefully choreographed script by the submarine HMCS Corner Brook, its menacing black hull gliding through the waters, and the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Pierre Radisson.

Standing on the frigate's bow, Harper watched as a trio of CF-18s screamed overhead in a series of ear-piercing fly-bys in a cloudless sky.

Harper got to see the action firsthand when he rode a small Zodiac boat to board the Victoria-class submarine.

In a spray of water and air, the sub later slipped below the waters, taking Harper on a 30-minute trip. It's believed to be the first time a prime minister has gone diving in a submarine.

Harper's day sparked some comparisons to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has taken to displays of horseback riding and woodcutting, often with his shirt doffed, to buff his image.

There was no topless Prime Minister yesterday. But he was cutting a more relaxed look clad in jeans, shirt and sweater and hiking boots, as he toured the ship and the sub.

And he said he enjoyed his time below the waves, calling the ride "really smooth. You hardly know you are moving."

He couldn't resist a quip to the reporters gathered on the frigate, saying, "I see we didn't hit you with a torpedo."

The Prime Minister pointedly used his warship visit to warn the world that Canada will not stand idle in face of growing global interest in the North.

Harper was on the front lines of Operation Nanook, a military exercise he billed as the "most ambitious ever" and said it demonstrates Canada's "unyielding resolve" to protect the sovereignty of its remote lands.

"Protecting national sovereignty, the integrity of our borders, is the first and foremost responsibility of a national government," Harper said.

"It is a responsibility that has too often been neglected in our history."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who was with the Prime Minister, said the exercise was important not only for its optics but also the training it gave the military.

"This is political, but it's also very practical," MacKay said. "What we're doing here obviously is defending and projecting outward the state of our national sovereignty."

MacKay denied that threats to Canada's northern sovereignty are being overstated, saying that incidents in the North are "inevitable."

"This is about preparing for any external threats that may be there. This is about preparing for any accidental things that could happen, natural or manmade," he said.

Gen. Walt Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, said the military is honing skills during the August exercise, like amphibious landings, that could be used to respond to any kind of emergency in this region.

He said the exercises are "practising our traditional capabilities ... the fundamentals of getting ashore, whether you have to get ashore for a search-and-rescue event or getting ashore for a military event.

"In order to be prepared for all those things, you actually have to come up here and understand the climate, understand the topography, understand the passageways."

 

[GAP]

I was under the impression all our subs were out on the West Coast....did one come around to participate in this, or was one on the East Coast?