DT News: Cdr Stefanson on EX KEEN SWORD and remembering Corporal James Choi

Video / November 5, 2020

Transcript

(Shelley) While deployed in the Asia-Pacific region on Operations PROJECTION and NEON, HMCS Winnipeg is participating in exercise KEEN SWORD.

Commanding Officer of the vessel, Cdr Mike Stefanson, joins us to tell us more about the U.S and Japan-led combat readiness exercise and how the CAF will support.

Thanks for joining us today, Sir.

What are some of the training scenarios taking place during the exercise and how is HMCS Winnipeg participating?

(Cdr) Well, (HMCS) Winnipeg is currently involved in an anti-submarine warfare exercise. We’re at sea with our partners from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the United States Navy (USN) We’re conducting operations against a submarine, a live submarine, that’s acting as an adversary utilizing surface assets and naval air assets from the USN and the Japanese Navy to help work against this submarine.

From here, we’re going to go into helicopter operations, both combined and joint, with our partners from the US Navy and the US Army actually. That’ll be featuring our brand new CH-148 Cyclone helicopter which is great news for Canada and we’re excited to see that helicopter in action.

Following that we’ll go into some more anti-submarine warfare xercises after that and then this whole exercise culminates with a joint war-at-sea exercise which is sort of the culmination exercise of exercise KEEN SWORD in about a two-weeks’ time.

(S) What experience will CAF members gain through their role in this year’s exercise?

(Cdr) The experience we gain from exercises like KEEN SWORD start from the planning stages. So planning and executing naval operations is a sophisticated thing, so we’ll gain that experience there. Of course, at-sea we get the opportunity to work with other nations, like-minded partners, operate with their forces, their aircraft, their submarines in this case, and their surface assets. And KEEN SWORD is all about interoperability, so it gives us an opportunity to exercise with these nations and really “test our metal” against some of the best capable forces in the world.

(S) When the exercise is complete, what’s next for HMCS Winnipeg?

(Cdr) (HMCS) Winnipeg is on, as I said, operation NEON so once exercise KEEN SWORD is complete we’ll go back into operation NEON, another rotation of operation NEON, which is Canada’s contribution to the multinational effort towards enforcing United Nations Security Council resolution sanctions against North Korea, and specifically their nuclear weapons program. So (HMCS) Winnipeg will head back into another patrol for operation NEON and then for us it’s going to be time to start heading home to get home in time for Christmas.

(S) Thanks so much for joining us today, sir.

Before we go, Corporal James Choi from the Royal Westminster Regiment, based in New Westminster, British Columbia, tragically died as a result of injuries sustained during a live-fire training exercise at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright. Our sincere condolences go out to his loved ones and fellow Canadian Armed Forces members. This is a great loss for the Defence Team.

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