Operational support hubs

Locations

Currently, there are four operational support hubs in four locations across the globe, providing logistical support to ongoing CAF operations overseas:

• OSH Europe, located in Germany;
• OSH Southwest Asia, located in Kuwait;
• OSH Latin America and the Caribbean, located in Jamaica; and
• OSH West Africa, located in Senegal.

The location of an OSH is selected with care to ensure:

• a safe and secure environment for CAF assets in a friendly host nation
• an airport, a seaport, or both, capable of handling the movements of people, materiel, equipment and supplies as required

OSH – Europe

The CAF has operated a small European OSH in Germany since 2009, with the consent of the German government.

It was first located at the United States Air Force base at Spangdahlem in western Germany. It was moved in July 2012 to the joint military-civilian airfield at Köln-Bonn to gain the broader range of readily-available support services in that region. CAF members are co-located with the German Air Force on the military side of the airfield.

This location at the large Köln-Bonn airport provides a very capable OSH that can operate on a 24/7 basis. It has flexible infrastructure to meet CAF requirements including access to the full range of transportation networks needed to support OSH operations.

OSH – Southwest Asia

In late 2011, Canada entered into an OSH arrangement with Kuwait to establish a means to support CAF operations in Afghanistan. This operational support detachment was a transportation point: a place where CAF personnel, materiel, and equipment were transferred between modes of transportation (for example from air to sea). This was done in order to reduce operational costs.

Canada signed a new agreement with Kuwait on May 12, 2014 to establish and maintain an OSH in Southwest Asia.

OSH – Southwest Asia:

• provides coverage for CAF personnel, materiel and equipment who transit through Kuwait to and from their areas of operation in the region
• supports CAF members and assets present in Kuwait

OSH – Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

June 2016 marked the CAF’s first operational activation of the OSH-LAC.

OSH-LAC:

• provides rapid support to missions to ensure that CAF members and partners can be quickly brought into the region
• provides effective and efficient operational support to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations
• supports partners, including Other Government Departments and Agencies
• continues to strengthen the relationship between the Canadian Armed Forces and the Jamaica Defence Force.

OSH – West Africa

In Spring of 2018, an Interim Operational Support Hub (IOSH) was established at the Léopold Sédar Senghor (LSS) airport in Dakar, Senegal to support Operation (Op) PRESENCE Task Force Mali. This later became a standing OSH in West Africa.

OSH West Africa:

• allows the CAF to project and sustain its military forces rapidly and flexibly
• provides support for CAF operations staging in or through West Africa and limited support to missions without surge
• provides strategic-level liaison with host nation (HN) senior officials, in coordination with Canadian Embassy
• provides operational/tactical level liaison with HN and UN Logistics hub.
• can support equipment receipt and customs liaison for other Canadian governmental departments and agencies as well as Canadian defence industries

OSH operations - levels of readiness

The Government of Canada decides where the OSHs are and at what level of readiness an OSH is maintained. The composition of an OSH is scalable depending on the operational requirement of the task forces it supports within its geographic area.

Functions of an operational support hub

OSHs are designed to be flexible. They grow and shrink according to the needs of the task forces they serve. The level of support depends on their readiness status. OSH provide some or all of the following services.