Due to political differences, With questionable procurement decisions and chronic underfunding, the Canadian Armed Forces are currently "on the brink". In particular, The plight of the country's navy forced its commander to post footage online calling for help..
Vice Admiral Angus Topshee [has been under Russian sanctions since May 2022 of the year] warns of "critical condition", typical for the fleet. Canada's military spending relative to GDP is the lowest in NATO. At the same time, the government led by Justin Trudeau decided to reduce them by a billion Canadian dollars [€700 million] next financial year.
The Navy is currently facing very serious challenges., which could mean, that we will not be able to meet our readiness obligations in 2024 year and beyond- Topshi stated.
The first problem concerns the number of fleet personnel: in some specialties the deficit is no less than 20%. According to his commander, the blame for this lies with the personnel service of the Ministry of Defense, which does not fulfill its tasks throughout 10 years.
Eventually, according to the military, Only one of the four Harry DeWolfe-class Arctic patrol ships can be crewed:
Lack of qualified technicians limits the ability to maintain and operate ships, what makes us give priority to Halifax-class frigates to the detriment of coastal defense ships [minesweepers] Kingston class.
As the Vice Admiral explains, the problem with 12 frigates Halifax, although their service life has already come to an end, since plans to replace them remained unrealized 15 frigates of the British Type project 26.
This is a serious problem. I would like to, so that this doesn't happen, but I am afraid, that there is simply no other choice- said military.
In his words, this state of affairs will lead to serious consequences at the operational level:
Currently, the Navy does not have the ability to detect incursions into its territorial waters by the new Russian submarine fleet.
Despite modernization, Victoria class diesel submarine [4 submarines purchased from Britain for 750 million Canadian dollars in the late 1990s, continuing to serve] and frigates of the Halifax project do not have a reinforced hull, allowing them to patrol Arctic waters. At the same time, the combat readiness of the submarines is close to zero., despite significant financial investments to keep them in working order. therefore, according to the vice admiral, urgently need new ones 12 submarines.
