High North Problem Challenges Canada's Military Rotorcraft Procurement

Canada has targeted its tactical rotorcraft fleet for urgent modernization as it seeks to address emerging defense challenges in the frozen High North and its role as a crucial partner to the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region.

With increasing commercial interests in the Arctic, global warming opening sea trade routes and China and Russia seeking resources and control, Ottawa sees new rotorcraft fleets as crucial for it to project power into the region.

• Canada to spend $12.8 billion renewing tactical rotorcraft
• Requirements could drive acquisition of up to three types

The Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) current tactical fleet of Bell CH-146 Griffons—a variant of the Bell 412 twin-engine medium helicopter—is short-legged, slow, limited on payload and lacking the data links and sensors commanders consider increasingly essential for the country’s future operations domestically and overseas.

Now RCAF commanders are casting a net not only to replace the long-serving Griffon but also to “create a whole new set of tactical aviation capabilities,” Brig. Gen. Brendan Cook, RCAF director general of air and space force development, told the International Military Helicopter Conference in London on Feb. 25.

The service’s C$18.4 billion ($12.8 billion) Next Tactical Aviation Capability Set (nTACS) aims to put new helicopters into service in 2033 and achieve full operational capability five years later. The project emerged from Ottawa’s Our North, Strong and Free defense modernization plan published last spring.

But commanders believe no single aircraft type alone can address the problems the RCAF faces and that nTACS may need to include acquisition of two or even three aircraft types to meet all the mission requirements.

“We will look to return to a balanced fleet that would consist of a capability for precision assault, armed attack and armed reconnaissance and then probably a medium-lift capability to complement that,” Cook explained. “Our initial market analysis . . . so far has indicated that while there are many good helicopters out there for the specific Canadian context, it’s very difficult to find something that will meet all of our needs.”

One eye-opening role identified for the future rotorcraft is personnel recovery and rapid troop deployment to secure a Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter crash site should one be lost in the north, given the platform’s security requirements.

However, Canada’s physical size brings unique challenges for tactical helicopters. When planning operations, the current RCAF measure is the crew day—how far the aircraft can fly, regardless of how many times it needs to refuel, take off and land, before the crew needs to rest.

Sometimes the RCAF can address this by airlifting helicopters using Boeing C-17s, but there is a limited number of runways in the north of the country that can handle the airlifter. But air transportation introduces issues including the need for maintenance crews both to unload the helicopter and to reinstall the rotor blades.

Helicopter inflight refueling is also an option, but it carries a high training burden and requires dedicated aerial refueling aircraft.

The distance challenge accentuates the need for longer-range and higher-speed rotorcraft, a capability set being explored by the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) and NATO’s Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) projects. Canada is a member of the latter program. Cook told the conference that he hoped some NGRC capabilities that emerge could “slide left” to make them an option for Canada, but NGRC aircraft are not expected to be delivered until the late 2030s or early 2040s.

Cook stated that the RCAF is also having “good conversations” with the U.S. Army about the FVL and has “considerable interest” in the tiltrotor for its inherent speed and endurance capability. However, he noted that the military tiltrotors in service or in development are unpressurized and cannot always fly above the weather, potentially making them unsuitable for operations in northerly latitudes.

“We just don’t know if we can wait for them to get to the point where they are usable for Canada,” he said.

Besides longer legs and higher speeds, the RCAF wants future rotorcraft to feature sensors and data links to improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as weapons and to support special operations forces.

While homeland defense would be the priority for the new fleet, Canada also needs helicopters that can support the NATO Multinational Brigade it leads in Latvia, as well as help it be a “value-added partner” to the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region.

In the meantime, Bell is taking the CH-146 fleet through the Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) program, which will sustain the type through to the 2030s and its replacement by nTACS. Delivery of the first upgraded CH-146 is planned for 2026-27.