The RCAF to capitalize on innovation
News Article / February 13, 2014
By Major Sonia Connock
Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin, the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), spoke to more than 100 members and friends of the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations (CORIM) on the afternoon of February 12th.
He spoke about creating the Air Force of the future by capitalizing on innovation.
“The RCAF has repeatedly demonstrated during the last decade that it is a flexible, professional, and highly skilled force able to deploy at a moments notice and deliver operational excellence in Canada and abroad. My number one priority is to build on our operational successes and, though we must operate with reduced budgets, ensure that the RCAF continues to provide the same excellent service to Canadians,” said LGen Blondin.
“The Air Force will meet this challenge by leveraging innovations in technology and developing a dialogue with the aerospace industry and with universities.”
In his remarks, he touched on three RCAF initiatives that will help the Air Force respond to today’s realities and will assist in maintaining and improving the Air Force’s operational capability:
The Emerging Skies Initiative (ESI) will bring together the Air Force, industry and universities to explore innovative solutions to Canada’s future air power needs. The Canadian solutions proposed by the ESI collaborative working groups will benefit all partners.
The RCAF will increase its use of modeling and simulation technology to preserve – and improve – the skills and abilities of its crews, while also increasing the availability of aircraft for operations. This will result in savings for Canadian taxpayers.
The future pilot training initiative will transform the Air Force’s aircrew and groundcrew training tools. The initiative will take advantage of advances in computer technology that can use simulators to create virtual worlds and realistic flying missions. A training system that combines both live and simulated training will help the Air Force to train its people more effectively and efficiently.
“Working with reduced budgets is a challenge – but it’s a challenge for which the Air Force has solutions,” said LGen Blondin. “These three initiatives will give the RCAF the flexibility, agility and capability to more effectively meet the security challenges of the 21st century.”
For more information about CORIM, visit www.corim.qc.ca