Image source: topwar.ru
Due to political differences, questionable procurement decisions and chronic underfunding, the Canadian armed forces are currently "on edge." In particular, the difficult situation of the country's Navy forced their commander to post footage online calling for help.
Vice Admiral Angus Topshi [has been under Russian sanctions since May 2022] warns of the "critical condition" characteristic of the fleet. Canada's military spending relative to GDP is the lowest in NATO. At the same time, the government led by Justin Trudeau decided to reduce them by a billion Canadian dollars [€700 million] in the next fiscal year.
Topshi declared.
Image source: topwar.ru
The first problem concerns the number of personnel in the fleet: in some specialties, the deficit is at least 20%. According to his commander, the blame for this lies with the personnel service of the Ministry of Defense, which has not fulfilled its tasks for 10 years.
As a result, according to the military, only one of the four Harry DeWolfe-class Arctic patrol ships can be manned:
As the Vice admiral explains, the problem with 12 Halifax frigates is not being solved, although their service life has already come to an end, as plans to replace them with 15 frigates of the British Type 26 project remained unfulfilled.
- the military explained.
Image source: topwar.ru
According to him, this state of affairs will lead to serious consequences at the operational level:
Despite the modernization, the Victoria-class submarines [4 submarines purchased from Britain for 750 million Canadian dollars in the late 1990s, while continuing service] and the frigates of the Halifax project do not have a reinforced hull allowing them to patrol the waters of the Arctic. At the same time, the combat readiness of the submarines is close to zero, despite significant financial injections to keep them in working order. Therefore, according to the Vice Admiral, new 12 submarines are urgently needed.
