Canada: New Capabilities, New Missions in Afghanistan
VICTORIA, British Columbia - Canadian Air Force Griffon helicopters will be outfitted with additional surveillance equipment as well as new weapons for escort missions and sent to Afghanistan this fall, Air Force officers said.
In the meantime, the Air Force has already deployed eight Griffon helicopters, outfitted with 7.62mm miniguns, to Kandahar. Those helicopters began arriving in December and started conducting operations in January. The helicopters have a standard sensor capability with an L-3 Wescam forward-looking infrared system.
But the first of the helicopters carrying the new Interoperable Griffon Reconnaissance Escort Surveillance System (INGRESS), which will provide additional capabilities, will arrive in the fall, said Air Force Lt. Col. Duart Townsend, of the directorate of aerospace requirements section that deals with tactical aviation.
INGRESS involves installing specialized mission kits on 19 helicopters, producing two variants of Griffons - an escort variant to accompany and protect Canadian Chinook helicopters in Afghanis-tan, and one for domestic operations. Both would use a similar electro-optical/infrared sensor system package.
The CH-146 Griffon, bought by Canada in the mid-1990s, is considered a utility tactical helicopter and has been used for search-and-rescue missions, tactical transport and humanitarian relief operations. The Griffon is a version of the Bell 412 civilian helicopter made by Bell Helicopter Textron of Mirabel, Quebec. The Canadian Air Force has about 85 Griffons.
The INGRESS helicopters to deploy to Afghanistan will be different from those Griffons already there in that they will carry more sensors as well as a heavier weapon, a .50-caliber machine gun, Townsend said.
"The biggest difference would be the capabilities of the sensor suite, which are multispectral," he said. "Instead of just being an infrared thermal channel, they would have infrared, visible optics with extended range, and also the ability to determine range through a laser range-finder. That is overlaid onto a moving map display that the Griffon currently does not have."
The .50-caliber machine guns would be acquired under a Foreign Military Sale from the U.S. Navy, Townsend added. "The .50-caliber has the range to give the full capability" for a more demanding escort role.
The INGRESS project is expected to be completed by summer 2010, with delivery of the 19 mission kits and the modification of the entire Griffon fleet to accept that equipment.
The INGRESS prototypes are being tested at Canadian Forces facilities.
A total cost for INGRESS was not available. However, in July 2008 the Canadian government announced that it had awarded a 25 million Canadian dollar ($20 million) contract to L-3 Wescam, Burlington, Ontario, for the electro-optical and infrared sensor systems.
Engineering, installation and airworthiness certification support for the Griffons is being handled by Bell Helicopter Textron Canada.
For several years, the Canadian Defence Department resisted sending the Griffons to support combat operations in Kandahar. But Canada's recent acquisition of used Chinook CH-47D helicopters from the U.S. Army for use in Afghanistan, as well as the mounting toll of Canadian casualties from roadside bombs, changed that view.
Air Force Col. Christopher Coates, who commands the Canadian Air Wing in Kandahar, recently told reporters that the Griffons already in Afghanistan will do more than just escort Chinook helicopters. They will also be used on surveillance missions, providing overflights for convoys as they travel along roads, as well as conducting operations to try to spot insurgents laying bombs.
"It's been a long time coming," said Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, who in the past had advocated sending Griffons to Afghanistan to carry supplies and small numbers of troops as well as to provide surveillance. "These helicopters should have been deployed years ago."
The INGRESS escort configuration would consist of cockpit-mounted sensor controls, imagery and a multifunctional digital moving map display, but would not include a data link.
The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) configuration for domestic missions is to consist of cabin-mounted sensor controls, map and imagery displays; a cockpit-mounted multifunctional digital moving map display; and a data link, according to information provided by Public Works and Government Services Canada, the federal agency handling the procurement.
The ISR configuration will be able to detect, recognize and identify objects as small in size as a human being and transmit video imagery via a data link.
The Canadian Forces is looking at using the INGRESS Griffons for security duties at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. Those Griffons would not carry weapons but be focused on providing ISR coverage. ■
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