1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region Commander

Major-General Iain Huddleston, OMM, CD

Major-General (MGen) Iain Huddleston enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1989, graduating with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Royal Military College in 1994. After completing wings training in 1995, he flew with both 415 Maritime Patrol and 404 Maritime Patrol and Training Squadron flying the CP-140 Aurora at 14 Wing Greenwood in Nova Scotia.

In late 2002, he was posted on exchange with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Scotland, where he flew the Nimrod MR2 with 206 and then CXX Squadron. Promoted to Major in 2003, MGen Huddleston deployed to the Middle East twice with the RAF, operating from Muscat, Oman and Basrah, Iraq in an Overland Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance role. Returning to Canada in August 2006, he was selected as aide-de-camp to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General (retired) Rick Hillier.

Completing the Canadian Joint Command and Staff Program in 2009, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and appointed Commanding Officer 429 Transport Squadron, operating the CC-177 Globemaster III at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario and supporting global CAF operations. MGen Huddleston deployed to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan as the Joint Headquarters Plans Officer, serving thereafter at the RCAF Aerospace Warfare Centre in Trenton, the Strategic Joint Staff and then the Defence Renewal Team in Ottawa. He was promoted to Colonel in June 2013 and appointed Commanding Officer 14 Wing Greenwood where he led the Long Range Patrol Force in operationalizing and deploying the modernized Block III CP-140 Aurora on Operation IMPACT.

MGen Huddleston was selected in 2015 to attend the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, UK and returned to Canada in 2016 to become Director Fleet Readiness at 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In June 2018, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and served as the 1 Canadian Air Division Deputy Commander Force Generation and then as the Deputy Commander. Posted to the Air Staff in Ottawa in July 2020, he became the Director General Air and Space Readiness and upon his promotion to Major-General in May 2021 he was appointed as Chief of Staff for the Canadian Joint Operations Command Headquarters.

In July 2022 MGen Huddleston assumed command of 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg.