The Canadian Joint Warfare Centre coordinates the CAF’s participation in Bold Quest 2024

December 9, 2024 – Defence Stories

Bold Quest (BQ) 24 Island Marauder took place from 7 October to 8 November 2024, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Sponsored by the United States Joint Staff (USJS), this annual event is a multinational collaboration where countries, services, and programs jointly develop, demonstrate, and analyze capabilities.

The BQ objectives were to improve and assess the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) interoperability with allied nations in live fire capability demonstrations.

BQ 24 included participants from several countries, including the United States and 23 NATO and Partner Nations.

The Canadian Joint Warfare Centre (CJWC) was the lead organization on behalf of the CAF in coordinating Canada’s participation in this year’s assessment series. 

The CAF sent 181 personnel from various branches, including the:

• Royal Canadian Navy (RCN);
• Royal Canadian Airforce (RCAF);
• Canadian Army (CA);
• Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM);
• Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC); and
• Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC).

The CAF was  the second largest contributor in terms of major equipment to the exercise, which included:  

• Two CP-140 Aurora;
• Four PUMA Unmanned Aircraft Systems;
• Two Medium Range Radars (MRR); and
• Maritime Air Ground Interrogation Centre (MAGIC) trailer.

The CAF achieved several key objectives, including:

• Enhancing interoperability between the Canadian Army/MRR and the RCAF Aerospace Coordination Centre;
• Providing support to the Coalition Recognized Maritime Picture (RMP); and
• Bolstering Unmanned Aircraft Systems support to CANSOFCOM tactical edge cloud solution and increasing Project OLYMPUS efforts.

In addition, the CAF led the way on transmitting data through High Frequency (HF), achieving a major accomplishment of moving data from Canada to Poland. These achievements brought strong credibility to Canada and the CAF.

The CAF accomplished some notable “First Instances” during BQ 24 which included:

• The RCN Team executed a full Intelligence Requirement Management & Collection Management (IRM&CM) cycle in BQ and have incorporated analysts working remotely from the Maritime Warfare Centre in Halifax. 
• First time in the CP 140 fleet’s history that multiple CP 140 Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) video feeds were provided and successfully received by ground teams.

The CAF’s participation in Bold Quest 24 Island Marauder has once again demonstrated the commitment to enhancing interoperability and capability development with allied nations. The successful execution of various objectives has solidified Canada's position as a key player in multinational defense collaborations.

As the CAF looks forward to future iterations of Bold Quest, the lessons learned and the advancements made during BQ 24 will undoubtedly contribute to the continued growth and effectiveness of the CAF in joint operations.