CASR  Background   ~  Air Force

This CASR  Background Index covers Air Force aircraft and projects of interest. Comprehensive  listings of  current  Air Force equipment  are available elsewhere.

Instead, the Background Air Force pages will be created when they are germain to discussion/debate on a significant procurement plan or provide background to major overseas deployments of aircraft or to relevant procurements already made.

Also Background pages on: Airlift for links to pages on the  CC-177 and  Airlift Capability Project - Strategic and the CC-130J Hercules and ACP-Tactical project; Helicopters for pages on the CH-124 Sea King and CH-148 Cyclone; and UAVs for CF Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ( including UAV history, trial programs, CU-161 Sperwer Tactical UAV, mini-UAV project, and JUSTAS MALE UAV project, etc.)

Note: with CH-147D Chinooks in service and the procurement of CH-147F MHLH planned, all earlier pages on Chinook alternatives and  the Medium-to-Heavy-Lift Helicopter project have been removed. Likewise, in the absense of  CF-18 deploy- ment to Kandahar, pages on CF-18 close air support weapons have been deleted. Pages comparing Army Aviation remain.  See Aerospace for aircraft comparisons.

Note: Pages listed/linked below will be arranged by subject, not chronologically.

Background   —   DND / CF Project Articles Index

Electronic  Warfare  Training
Historical CF aerial EW training and CATS / ICATS, contractor- supplied  alternatives reaching success with an Interim CATS. The ICATS 'standing offer' contracts were won by Quebec-based Top Aces Inc.

Tactical Transport and Arctic Sovereignty
A little-known  part  of  CF  CC-115  Buffalo operations are  their annual supply runs to Arctic stations, filling a slot between small Twin Otters  and  larger  transport  aircraft.

Buffalo Wings  –  New Engines for the CC-115s?
"Extending the life of the existing Buffalo ... fleet is an option  under consideration",  DND announced on 16 Feb 2007. But, if new engines, what engines?


•  Aircraft Procurement Projects  –  On-Going

CP-140 Aurora Replacement Candidates
With the closing of the Aurora Incremental Modernization  Project,   thought  must  be given to replacements. Direct replacements are limited to three new designs: the Boeing P-8A, the long-shot KHI (Kawasaki) P-X, and  unbuilt EADS MPA320 / MPA319.

Fixed-Wing  Search  and  Rescue  Project
FWSAR, the on-again/off-again  project  to replace six remaining CC-115 Buffalos  and remove SAR  from the list of  basic CC-130 Hercules duties. There are two candidates.

Snowbird  Replacement  Project
The on-again, off-again Snowbird Aircraft Replacement Project –  or SARP is reviewed. Update on  the Swiss Hawk unsolicited proposal.

SARP (and Training Aircraft) Specs
A quick technical summary of aircraft mentioned in relation to SARP  –  the CT-114, CT-155, CT-156,  and  CATS.



•  Aircraft Procurement Projects   –   Completed Projects

CF-18 MTT/Advanced Distributed Combat Training System
The Air Force'  CF-18  Multi-Task Trainer (MTT) simulators and Part-Task Trainers (PTTs) make up the CF-18 Advanced Distributed Combat Training System (ADCTS)  which allows the networked training of CF-18 pilots in separated locations.