CASR  Background   ~  Airlifters

This  Background Index  covers Canadian Forces airlifters  –   transport aircraft flying in both the tactical and strategic roles. Not included here are the so-called FWNOR fixed-wing utility aircraft or  Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue aircraft. [1]

CF strategic and  tactical  airlift  requirements have both now been satisfied  – at least as far as orders go – so these airlift pages can now be considered archived.

CF strategic airlift was covered  by the aborted 'Future Strategic Aircraft' project which was revived by the Harper Conservatives as the Airlift Capability Project - Strategic.  The former project danced around alternatives to Boeing's C-17.  The latter project went straight to an Advance Contract Award Notice for the C-17A.

CF tactical airlift procurement  followed a similar trajectory.  Liberal governments in succession tried to avoid the Hercules replacement hot potato despite regular public relations embarassments. The fall 2005 decision to re-deploy to Kandahar finally pushed the Hercules replacement nearer to the top of their priority list. In Nov. 2005, a deal was announced with  Lockheed Martin for 16  C-130J Hercules.

The least appealing aspect of  this Liberal plan was that  then-MND, Bill Graham, bundled Hercules replacement  together with the ill-considered  FWSAR project. The Liberal deal – denounced as "sole-sourcing" –  was cancelled soon after the Harper Conservatives took power. The Tactical Airlift Project became the Tories' Airlift Capability Project - Tactical ending in the Jan 2008 order for 17 C-130J-30s.

For good or ill, Canada now has a 20 year commitment to sustaining the C-17. As a result, CASR 's strategic airlifter comparison pages have been eliminated along with their index page. Government document  pages related  to C-17 procurement remain and are listed below. See a separate Tactical Airlift index for more details.