Commander, 3 Wing Bagotville/CFB Bagotville

Colonel Maxime Renaud, CD

A native of Jonquière, Quebec, Colonel Maxime Renaud joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Regular Officer Training Plan in the summer of 2000. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in May 2006 and received, with great distinction, a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He began his pilot training in 2007 and obtained his military pilot wings in June 2008. After flying the CT-156 Harvard II and the CT-155 Hawk, he was selected to continue training as a fighter pilot. He was then transferred to Cold Lake, Alberta, where he completed advanced jet training as well as operational fighter pilot training on the CF-18 Hornet, from which he graduated first in class in June 2010.

Transferred to 3 Wing Bagotville, he joined 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron as a fighter pilot. In August 2013, he was transferred to 3 Wing Operations where he held the positions of Standards Officer and Current Operations and Planning Officer. He was promoted to the rank of Major in January 2015.

In August 2015, he was chosen to undertake the flight test pilot course with the United States Navy, in Patuxent River, Maryland. He graduated at the top of his cohort in December 2016 and was then transferred to the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment in Cold Lake. He occupied the positions of Operations Officer, Officer in Charge of Fighter and Training Aircraft Tests, and Chief Test Pilot. Transferred to the Canadian Forces College, Toronto, in July 2020, he completed the Joint Command and Staff Program in July 2021 with a Masters in Defense Studies.

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in July 2021, he was posted to Bagotville and held the position of Senior Operational Airworthiness Staff Officer at 1 Canadian Air Division. In July 2022, he became Commanding Officer of 3 Operations Support Squadron. In August 2023, he assumed command of 425 Squadron.

Colonel Renaud has more than 3,000 flight hours to his credit on more than 30 different aircraft, including more than 1,900 hours on the CF-18. He was also deployed in a combat situation three times, including in Libya in 2011, in Iraq and in Syria in 2014 and 2015. He has completed more than 40 combat missions and more than 250 hours of flight time in a combat situation.

Colonel Renaud has been married to Geneviève since 2012, and they have three wonderful boys.