If Ottawa is serious about ‘taking the world as it is,’ it must invest in a stronger diplomatic capacity. Without it, Canada risks making cautious or poorly informed decisions that weaken its position abroad and undermine the partnerships it needs to remain safe, stable, and secure.
In having more mixed firepower capacity, the CAF can conduct more precision strikes, alongside extended barrages needed to sustain attritional combat operations over months or even years.
Without key defence infrastructure, the task of deterring, confronting, and combatting adversaries that pose a threat will be insurmountably difficult.
To prevent this from happening, a force capacity review must accompany new defence budgets and funding streams.
Developing this concept would signal to both allies and adversaries that Canada no longer views its North as peripheral.
During combat operations, FPVs offer an array of tactical advantages that aim to make the battlefield more lethal, forcing adversaries to be on the defensive.
The Armed Forces don’t need to be dragged into another domestic emergency operation, but border security missions could provide vital insights if managed correctly.
Ottawa should immediately launch a force capacity review to look at the CAF’s short- and long-term needs, and strengthen our readiness and lethality.
An overrelliance will lead to logistical constraints that will significantly diminish the Navy’s combat power and combat-readiness.
Wargaming offers such an opportunity for MPs and Senators.
The new defence policy should have created a strategy that would see our military structured as a maritime force, prioritizing the CAF’s sea and air domains supplemented by space and cyber capabilities.
Demonstrating our resolve to support Ukraine despite any outcome following the next Canadian election will evade the catastrophic foreign policy decision to make Canadian military funding to Ukraine a politicized issue.
The likelihood is increasing of Canadians being in harm’s way when they’re abroad. If Ottawa does not take action, the safety and well-being of our citizens will be in jeopardy.