As the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) celebrates its 100th anniversary, it stands at the cusp of a transformative era. Over the past 19 months, it has embarked on an unprecedented modernization journey, marking the most significant investment in its capabilities in recent memory. Since 2022 alone, the Government of Canada has finalized the procurement or upgrade of approximately 211 new aircraft for the RCAF. This includes 88 new F-35 fighter jets, nine new CC-330 Husky strategic tanker and transport aircraft, up to 16 new P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft, 16 new or upgraded Cormorant helicopters, 11 remotely piloted aircraft (MQ-9Bs), plus 5 fleets of training aircraft (71 total aircraft: Grob 120TP, Pilatus PC-21, King Air 260s, Airbus H-135s, and Dash 8-400s) for training Pilots, Air Combat System Officers and Airborne Electronic System Operators.
In this interview, LGen Kenny, Commander, RCAF discusses the urgent need for modernization amidst heightened global security concerns, the strategic vision for the future of the RCAF, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Q: The RCAF is embarking on a major transformation, a scale of change not seen since the post-World War II era. What are you most eager to implement or see come to fruition?
I’m eager to implement everything. I say that in a bit of jest, but the reality is that the security situation has never been as dire now as it has been in my entire career. Unless we really get after modernization in a concrete and urgent way, then we are at risk of falling behind and ultimately not being able to deter those who we wish to deter.
All those contracts that we’ve recently signed, or have signed in the past, we need to get those to an operational capability as quickly as possible so that we have the tools to bring in and train more people and retain the people we have. That way we have a force that is agile, integrated, inclusive and that – whether it’s on the air or the space force side – gives the government of Canada options to deter potential conflict as we move forward. I worry that we don’t have all the tools right now. Therefore, we need to implement everything as quickly as we can. Easy to say. Very difficult to do.
Q: The RCAF Modernization has jumped into the deep end of the digital age with investments in data-intensive platforms. How is the RCAF preparing for the delivery of these various platforms?
That’s a good question, because at the end of the day, the platforms we are buying are just big hoovers of data. Think about your home computer. It has a hard drive that’s not connected to anything, and you are the only person who can access it. If we have the capabilities but can’t get information to the decision makers then it’s just an isolated hard drive that cannot contribute to the overall fight. We’re responsible to get the data from our platforms back to an Air Force link. And what really counts is the ability to get it across our departments to our allies and partners.
It’s not just an Air Force requirement, it is a department requirement. When it comes to the Department of National Defence, we just stood up a digital services group. We took the Chief Information Officer Group and Digital Transformation Office, and we collapsed them into one. Today they’re the Digital Services Group, which is responsible for creating that backbone. This allows data to move across systems, whether it’s through AI or the cloud, to all the decision makers so they can make the most effective decisions in a timely fashion.
That group is also responsible for a lot of our DevSecOps, as we call it, and development of apps and applications that will allow us to be more efficient and effective in our information flows. One example is a cloud-based product we’ve created that will allow our flight crews to plan all the information they need to be able to do their mobility operations worldwide. They used to carry a briefcase full of documents. Now it’s all on one digital platform that’s accessible on their phones.
We have an AI strategy. We’ve released licenses for AI applications that we are experimenting with to see how we can best leverage them. So, there’s experimentation going on. They’re really focused on providing the governance, the framework, the standards and some of the bigger departmental IT and IM backbone pieces and then allowing us to be part of that, making sure that we follow that alignment but at the same time not taking away from much of the work we’ve already done. Fortunately, this started before I came into the seat, and we’ve been able to get after many things on the digital development side. We recognize that the Air Force has taken a lead and that’s because of some of the new things we’re bringing into place.
Q: The RCAF Roadmap puts emphasis on cross-cutting enablers such as Pan-Domain C2, Integration and Interoperability and capitalizes on digital designs connected to C4ISR architecture for information dominance and decision superiority. What steps are currently underway to facilitate this transition?
I’ll give you one example. We just introduced cloud-based command and control, called CBC2. It is a cloud-based application that takes more than 700 feeds from different sensors around North America. Then it feeds into a classified cloud with filters that uses AI and machine learning. This provides a common operational picture that is used by NORAD. It tells us exactly what’s going on in the air, space, land and maritime domains, while working on the cyber components as well. It also provides information to air battle managers, the people who are responsible for managing our airspace or launching our fighter and tanker assets. If there’s a threat to North America, it points out the potential threats using algorithms. That means I no longer need to stare at the screen to see if there’s a new dot that I didn’t see a second ago. It’s highlighted to me.
Then more importantly, it gives managers courses of action knowing what assets are available to them. If they select option one, it sends that information – and this part is still under development – directly to the fighter or tanker telling them what actions they need to take. And then once that’s done, it tells them the next action to take.
So, imagine a potential cruise missile attack in North America and you have limited assets to be able to do something with it. How do you prioritize that? How do you see it in the first place? How do you make sure that everybody monitoring it sees the same thing? And then what do you do about it? This does that for you through AI and machine learning. There’s still a person in the loop that makes a decision on this information, so there’s a trust that must be built in the system and how it develops.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge to RCAF modernization?
The main challenge is having the people to be able to do the modernization. Right now, we’re approximately 2,000 regular Force members short out of our 13,500. We’re pretty good on our public service employees. In terms of reserves we’re about 500 short from what our establishment could be, but we’re at a higher number right now than we’ve been for quite some time for filled positions.
We have about 70,000 people who are actively talking to our recruiting centres, trying to get into our military. Those numbers are higher than we saw prior to the pandemic. Our recruitment numbers went up last year, hence the growth, but they didn’t hit the numbers we wanted them to. We’re three months into our new fiscal year, and we’re on a track to hit our numbers this year. We’re at least six to 10 per cent higher compared to this time last year for our recruitment, to the point where we now must send some more people to be instructors for the basic military qualification training. It’s a very positive trajectory.
The goal I’ve given our team and the way I’ve framed it is in the strategy we put out for 2035. Within there, there are four strategic objectives. I distill them to be people, readiness, modernization and partnerships. Amongst those four strategic objectives mapped out to 2035, we set a goal of 2028 as being operationally relevant to do continental defense as an air and space force. What does that mean? That means that by 2028, we can effectively see, share, command and control, and act on threats to North America from an air and space perspective in a relevant way. If a cruise missile is flying into Canada, I could do something about it.
We are trying to maximize the 100th anniversary of the RCAF to remind our aviators, and those who are training, about their Air Force. I’m noticing a sense of optimism and a keen interest in joining the RCAF and I’m sure we’re going to be successful going forward. And just to be clear, I do care about what’s happening in the Navy, Army and Military Personnel Command, because at our wings we have over 90 different occupations that work there, and the Air Force only owns 28 of those occupations. So I need the full team to be filled up, not just Air Force occupations.
Q: Industry is always eager to support. How do you see industry participating?
Industry participates every day, whether it’s delivery of assets, or the maintenance and in service support contracts that goes along with most of our capabilities. I meet with industry regularly, as does my team.
There are many different components. One is delivering on the commitments that we’ve made and contracts that we signed while recognizing the challenges of inflation and global supply chains. But what I focus on is this: where are we going as a Force in the future? And what does industry see as options to address gaps? Or where are efficiencies that we don’t currently see? What do we see in the Air Force in 2035? What do we see in the Air Force in 2040?
What is always important is understanding where the gaps and seams are amongst different allies, so we can complement each other where we have similar capabilities, or if not, to sync capabilities and it make it easy for supply chain maintenance support. Industry plays that pivotal role of making sure we have a sustainable Force within Canada, especially if supply borders get closed. It’s recognizing that they also want to provide us optionality as we go forward and things to consider until we get to a contract, at which point we move forward.
Q: Are there any final comments you wish to make?
Yes. In the last 19 months, we have signed six significant contracts worth – when you add up all the different components – $60 billion to deliver up to 211 new or modified aircraft in the next five years. That is over half of our capabilities in aircraft and fleets. It’s the most significant modernization effort since the Second World War. There was a big surge in the early sixties, but with not as many platforms and not as much complexity. That does not include other contracts that we’ve already been putting in place, such as Fixed Wing Search and Rescue, the Hornet Extension Project, and the new Tactical Control Radars that we’re delivering to our wings.
It is a time of significant modernization for our Air Force. It is our 100th anniversary where we recognize our past members, our current members, and those who want to join the Air and Space Forces of the future. And it is the most uncertain, complex global security situation I’ve ever seen in my entire career. This is something we must take very seriously to make sure that we can deliver the Air Force that Canada needs, working with our joint partners and fulfilling our mission, which is the defence of Canada and our homelands. And I think we’re on a very good pathway to get there. It won’t be easy. There will be many challenges along the way. But if everybody is there to support us, I know we’ll be successful. That’s why we’ve always been successful, because people have been the cornerstone of our existence, as they will be for the next 100 years.