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Background
— Canadian Forces UAVs — the JUSTAS Project |
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Those overflights never happened. Tests were first postponed (due to technical problems) until mid-2001 (in part
to allow for a record-break- ing Global Hawk flight to Australia). Testing was re-scheduled for 26
June 2001 only to be “postponed indefinitely” by the US on 23 June. Then, in the
aftermath of 9/11, these experimental high-altitude UAVs were pressed into operational service.
What began as a series of trials aircraft [1] would be proven over Afghanistan not tested over Canada.
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In anticipation of those Global Hawk trials, work in Canada had already begun to determine how to best use
UAVs. This would lead directly to the JUSTAS project (Joint Unmanned
Surveillance Target Acquisition System) to acquire surveillance UAVs by 2010. As a ‘joint’ project, JUSTAS
primarily involves the Air Force and Navy (the Army focusing on Tactical and mini UAVs). From 2000 on,
the CF has been studying one key question: what category of long endurance UAV – a high altitude strategic
system like the Global Hawk or a more modest medium altitude UAV – could patrol Canada’s
coasts including the highly demanding High Arctic.
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Global Hawk wasn’t the only UAV gaining fame in the early days of Operation Enduring
Freedom. The Predator was also building a
reputation and its maker, General Atomics, leased DND UAVs to test ( first I-GNAT then Altair, a research
equivalent of Predator) its medium altitude long-endurance (or MALE) UAV theories. The final conclusion was to proceed with MALE UAVs for the Pacific
and Atlantic coasts with the Arctic requirements to be determined later. In the interim, the CP-140 Aurora
would be withdrawn from maritime duty to focus on the Arctic.[2]
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[1] Global Hawk was designed by Teledyne Ryan (now part of Northrop Grumman) as an unmanned replacement
for the famous U-2 spy plane. The first RQ-4A (‘Block 10’) Global Hawk UAVs were considered Advanced
Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) aircraft. The USAF retroactively assigned the pre-series designation
YRQ-4A to existing RQ-4A Global Hawks modified to test new equipment.
[2] This was revealed in the press on 31 January 2006. The semi-complete $900M CP-140 Aurora Incremental
Modernization Program was to be suspended. Due to airframe concerns, only 12 of the existing 18 CP-140s
would be retained for NORPAT Arctic sovereignty patrols.
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JUSTAS – Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System
its permission (and $200000) Canada would get access to some of the data collected.