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RPAS (was JUSTAS): the project to buy armed Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs

Your also late to the party for items many want…

Common theme

I mentioned a few times; my overall reaction after a briefing - “underwhelmed”.

I don’t know anyone who is asking to jump to RPAS now, back a handful of years ago people talked about it. NCR posting and stovepipe fleet created some disinterest.
 
I mentioned a few times; my overall reaction after a briefing - “underwhelmed”.

I don’t know anyone who is asking to jump to RPAS now, back a handful of years ago people talked about it. NCR posting and stovepipe fleet created some disinterest.
My guess is that it would be its own community, so it’s not like they’ll draw folks (aside from the initial crews) from an established fleet.

Some of the Comox and Victoria folks may be more receptive since they can sell and buy a place in Ottawa. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was heavily former 443 and 407 folks in the first years as they stand 4XX sqn up.

The advantage for NCR is that spousal employment chances are higher, and Ottawa is actually a pretty nice spot if you can afford it…which is better as the spousal employment chances are higher.
 
My guess is that it would be its own community, so it’s not like they’ll draw folks (aside from the initial crews) from an established fleet.

Some of the Comox and Victoria folks may be more receptive since they can sell and buy a place in Ottawa. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was heavily former 443 and 407 folks in the first years as they stand 4XX sqn up.

The advantage for NCR is that spousal employment chances are higher, and Ottawa is actually a pretty nice spot if you can afford it…which is better as the spousal employment chances are higher.
Not to sound flippant but I thought it would be a good role for those pilots no longer considered medically fit for a cockpit. I'm sure that there are a few of those around.

🍻
 
Not to sound flippant but I thought it would be a good role for those pilots no longer considered medically fit for a cockpit. I'm sure that there are a few of those around.

🍻
Sure, but most of them became AOOs.
 
I didn’t see the announcement; was there any mention of max # of concurrent LOEs? 🤓

I would like to think a minimum of 6 concurrent LOE is what we are building out. Anything less is unacceptable with 11 airframes.

I would not be surprised to hear it’s 2.
No idea how two would make sense but hey.
 
I would like to think a minimum of 6 concurrent LOE is what we are building out. Anything less is unacceptable with 11 airframes.

I would not be surprised to hear it’s 2.
No idea how two would make sense but hey.
I would suggest that it’s the number of crews that would be the limiting factor, not the aircraft.

Aircrews, even ones that aren’t in the aircraft, have legal limits on how many hours they fly. Those limits are due to the various global regulators.
 
The MQ-9B will be a real step change in air breathing ISR for Canada — especially as it will operate in conjunction with the 2nd largest P-8 fleet in the world. The RCAF has seven years to work with stakeholders to ensure there’s a robust framework for tasking and cross cueing, as well as analyzing the data that the missions collect. It would be a shame if they just did constant circles in the dark because nobody thought ahead about what to use them for.

I kind of want the MQ-9B Squadron to be activated as 428 “Ghost” Squadron. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to call the MQ-9B the ‘SkyGuardian’ instead of ‘Reaper 2’ so we may as well undermine that marketing by painting skulls on them. But there’s probably a more suitable dormant LRP squadron to resurrect.
 
I would suggest that it’s the number of crews that would be the limiting factor, not the aircraft.

Aircrews, even ones that aren’t in the aircraft, have legal limits on how many hours they fly. Those limits are due to the various global regulators.

Ack on that but I would be willing to bet that the satellite bandwidth available for both sensor feeds and flight control are going to be the limiting factor even above aircrew.
 
Anyone know which squadron is next up to be reformed?
416 and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons were stood down quite recently, in 2006, as the CF-18 fleet reorganized, but I’d put good odds that at least one will be among the first F-35 Squadrons to stood up.

420 and 880 Squadrons were the last to operate the Tracker when they were stood down in 1990 — either one might be a good fit for RPAS.
 
Ack on that but I would be willing to bet that the satellite bandwidth available for both sensor feeds and flight control are going to be the limiting factor even above aircrew.

The Sensor Op will be an AES Op; the demand for them is increasing while the ability to train more of them remains status quo and I didn’t see a significant increase for that in the early stages of FAcT. FWSAR is going to draw on sensor ops, MAISR will as well and RPAS.

There is a decade between now and (proposed) FOC but the CAF demonstrates a “slow to appreciate and react” as a rule, IMO. What could possibly go wrong in the next decade, right?
 
We will definitely bring back 420 Sqn. A day later Reddit will mock up an RCAF roundel with a pot leaf. A week and a half later direction will be passed that it can only be referred to as the "Four Hundred Twentieth Squadron" (in the best tradition of Op Honour vs Operation Honour).
 
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