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A Modest Proposal
— SAR Aircraft: Rethinking Search and Rescue |
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A host of former military function are now provided by Alternative Service Delivery contractors. The Air Force
was quick to jump on ASD to cover pilot and crew training (Canada Wings and NFTC ) but is
loathe to give up its aerial search and rescue role. However, there is an international trend in this
direction. That trend has been strongest for rotary-wing SAR (indeed, Canadian Helicopters Inter- national is a
major provider of privatized SAR services abroad) but there are also examples of private fixed wing services
suggesting alternatives to the FWSAR project.
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Australia provides a model for ASD-style SAR. Like the CF, the RAAF was responsible for SAR
in the past. RAAF aircraft still assist with SAR, but the key FWSAR type is the Bombardier Q200 ( Dash-8 ) with
maritime search radar and electro-optical sensors. These aircraft are owned by the Coastwatch (a division of the Australian Customs Service) but operated and maintained, under
contract, by private contractors. This arrangement allows Australia to control the aircraft and determine its sensor
suite, but the mixed fleet of modified Dash-8-200/-300 series aircraft are operated by the successful
bidder (currently NAS) for a 12 year contract.
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Neither concept nor technology is foreign to Canada.[1] DFO contracted surveillance
patrols to PAL [2] (right) for years and Transport Canada’s NASP (National Aerial Surveillance Program) operates a
former Canadian Coast Guard Dash 8 now fitted with a similar sensor suite to the Coastwatch aircraft (
MSS 6000, which includes side-looking radar,infrared/ultraviolet line scanner, Wescam MX-15 imager, Automated
Identification System, MDF-124F direction finder, and high speed SATCOM ).
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So, the proposal is simply this: recognize that search and rescue is not a core military task but, rather, a civilian
responsibility. Assign FWSAR to a civilian agency under the SAR Directorate. Transport Canada seems suitable
– existing Transport Canada patrol aircraft operate from civilian airports and are flown by
contracted pilots, a situation not unlike that of Australia’s
Coastwatch. Available CF aircraft still participate in aerial SAR when needed, it just wouldn’t
invest major resources in SAR squadrons or projects like FWSAR.
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[1] The RCAF was given prime responsibility for aerial SAR back in 1947. Despite coordinating organizations like the
NSS (National SAR Secretariat), overall responsibility for SAR rests with local authorities (usually RCMP) assisted
by volunteers like the pilots of CASARA. [2] PAL flies small
economical Beech B200 King Airs carrying electro-optical imagers and belly-mounted Litton AN/APS-504 search
radar.
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