Canada asks for Chinook design changes; military expert worry about delay
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Fraz
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Update:
Canada to send Chinooks, unmanned planes to Afghanistan
Melanie Lee
Reuters
SINGAPORE -- Canada will move helicopters and unmanned aircraft to Afghanistan to increase surveillance of roads, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Saturday, as the Taliban stepped up attacks in spite of a large NATO force in the country.
Canadian troops are based in the southern province of Kandahar and have seen some of the highest casualties as 55,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the United States battle the Taliban-led insurgency.
MacKay told Reuters on the sidelines of a security conference that six to 10 medium-heavy lift helicopters, such as Chinooks, and some unmanned aircraft would be delivered to Afghanistan by February 2009.
"Hopefully we are going to have some of that equipment arrive late summer, early fall and our intention is to have all that equipment in place by February 2009."
MacKay said the unmanned aircraft would be used to patrol roads used by Canada and her allies. Canada would also move staff to Afghanistan to man the equipment.
Eighty Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, and its mission in Afghanistan is due to end in February 2009. But the government has agreed to remain until 2011 if another NATO country agrees to supply the added troops.
"There is no intention before July of 2011 for us to remove troops," MacKay said.
He also said that he did not think a change of government in the United States would affect Canada's Afghan involvement.
"I believe we are on a very strong path for the future, regardless of who occupies the White House."
(Editing by Jan Dahinten and Valerie Lee)
Canada to send Chinooks, unmanned planes to Afghanistan
Melanie Lee
Reuters
SINGAPORE -- Canada will move helicopters and unmanned aircraft to Afghanistan to increase surveillance of roads, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Saturday, as the Taliban stepped up attacks in spite of a large NATO force in the country.
Canadian troops are based in the southern province of Kandahar and have seen some of the highest casualties as 55,000 foreign troops led by NATO and the United States battle the Taliban-led insurgency.
MacKay told Reuters on the sidelines of a security conference that six to 10 medium-heavy lift helicopters, such as Chinooks, and some unmanned aircraft would be delivered to Afghanistan by February 2009.
"Hopefully we are going to have some of that equipment arrive late summer, early fall and our intention is to have all that equipment in place by February 2009."
MacKay said the unmanned aircraft would be used to patrol roads used by Canada and her allies. Canada would also move staff to Afghanistan to man the equipment.
Eighty Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, and its mission in Afghanistan is due to end in February 2009. But the government has agreed to remain until 2011 if another NATO country agrees to supply the added troops.
"There is no intention before July of 2011 for us to remove troops," MacKay said.
He also said that he did not think a change of government in the United States would affect Canada's Afghan involvement.
"I believe we are on a very strong path for the future, regardless of who occupies the White House."
(Editing by Jan Dahinten and Valerie Lee)
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A post at The Torch:
How many Chinooks to Afstan soon?
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-many-chinooks-to-afstan-soon.html
Mark
Ottawa
How many Chinooks to Afstan soon?
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-many-chinooks-to-afstan-soon.html
Mark
Ottawa
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well... it could be that 6 are bought and paid for.... and the remainder are borrowed, loaned or made available through other means.... the simple fact that 6 are on the books is HUGE !!! anything more is just icing on the cake.
WRT the UAVs.... who knows. Do we get Israeli UAVs ??? time will tell.
WRT the UAVs.... who knows. Do we get Israeli UAVs ??? time will tell.
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Who knows? There may be a number of capabilities addressed within the Minister's statement; time will tell. The fact that the US Gov't, through DoD DSCA, specifically mentioned six Chinooks is good enough in my books that they're talking about six Chinooks (CH-47Ds, IIRC).
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Kirkhill said:
Kirkhill, I wish I had a buggy in real life. I played whack-frick the week before last and ended up being rather sore...must be old age! I'd play the Duke's "being chased by Roscoe" music and drive like a mad man around the fairway. Well either that, or sit at home listening to recordings of a 'Hook start up on the P, then kick in close to 10,000 horsies! Woo hoo! ;D
G2G
G2G. You could build a sim if you have a good sound system. Move your washing machine into the living room, put a couple of cinder blocks in it, select spin dry and crank "er up.
I would love to experience all of the sounds and smells of a hook again. This retirement thing isn't all that it's made up to be. :boring:
I would love to experience all of the sounds and smells of a hook again. This retirement thing isn't all that it's made up to be. :boring:
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Ya I noticed that. 
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beenthere said:
BT, I'll get one of the guys to send you a package with some 'P'-exhaust-in-a-bag!
I still have clear memories of the smell of the beastie and the sound the flight hydraulics make after the P comes up to speed and the flight hydraulic release solenoid closes, and the rotors do their little 'hop'. ;D
Cheers
G2G
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Clear sky, early morning hours, stable air, a lingering look at the sky and memories. sigh 
I've been doing some reading on a quasi technical site about Chinooks and indeed they have changed the look of many components since my time on Hooks. Hopefully under all of the grey paint on the transmission cases which used to be yellow there are some really good and much improved gears, bearings, pumps etc.
I noted the real cool chip detector panel which is a bonus. That panel started off as a very simple box with 5 switches to interupt the circuit from one transmission chip detector at a time in order to isolate the chip detector which had found a chip. The original engineering diagram was drawn on a Craven M cigarette package at the Jr. Ranks Club in Uplands (CFB Ottawa S) one night when the 450 Sqn flight engineers were on a Molson X fueled brainstorming session. I took it to work the next day and one of the 450 Sqn electricians declared that it was too simple so he added a few diodes into the mix and we drew up a reasonable diagram and raised the pertinent paperwork for a modification. We sent it off to the people at NDHQ and the idea was far too simplistic for the "engineers" in the head shed to approve. They wanted to make the thing into an engineering marvel that only highly trained and completely inexperienced university graduates could design. When I left the squadron two years later they were still working on it.
In the meantime every time the one and only chip light in the cockpit came on the procedure was to land as quickly as possible and start taking individual detectors and debris screens out to identify the culprit that had turned the light on. This was usually done someplace out in the wilderness in a snowstorm at -20.
If we would have been able to use the initial design each aircraft could have been modified in about two working hours and involved nothing more than 5 switches and a small aluminum plate to mount them on.
It's best to never let these engineering people get any more involved than is absolutely necessary. Keep them as far away from the Chinook program as possible. They'll try to invent all kinds of projects and studies that only serve to keep their empire growing and once they infest a program they multiply like rats and you can never get rid of them.
I noted the real cool chip detector panel which is a bonus. That panel started off as a very simple box with 5 switches to interupt the circuit from one transmission chip detector at a time in order to isolate the chip detector which had found a chip. The original engineering diagram was drawn on a Craven M cigarette package at the Jr. Ranks Club in Uplands (CFB Ottawa S) one night when the 450 Sqn flight engineers were on a Molson X fueled brainstorming session. I took it to work the next day and one of the 450 Sqn electricians declared that it was too simple so he added a few diodes into the mix and we drew up a reasonable diagram and raised the pertinent paperwork for a modification. We sent it off to the people at NDHQ and the idea was far too simplistic for the "engineers" in the head shed to approve. They wanted to make the thing into an engineering marvel that only highly trained and completely inexperienced university graduates could design. When I left the squadron two years later they were still working on it.
In the meantime every time the one and only chip light in the cockpit came on the procedure was to land as quickly as possible and start taking individual detectors and debris screens out to identify the culprit that had turned the light on. This was usually done someplace out in the wilderness in a snowstorm at -20.
If we would have been able to use the initial design each aircraft could have been modified in about two working hours and involved nothing more than 5 switches and a small aluminum plate to mount them on.
It's best to never let these engineering people get any more involved than is absolutely necessary. Keep them as far away from the Chinook program as possible. They'll try to invent all kinds of projects and studies that only serve to keep their empire growing and once they infest a program they multiply like rats and you can never get rid of them.
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I hope that they have done something to stop the oil and hydrulic fluid from pouring out on the ground. We spent most of our time filling systems, when I worked on them. And they had so many cracks in the structure that it looked like spides lived there.
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If I remember correctly as long as the levels didnot drop out of the sight glass on a 2.5 hour flight it was still serviceable, but sticky.
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