After a terrifying moment on BC on Tuesday, when a man allegedly kidnapped a small Cessna 172 plane in Victoria and flew to the airspace of Vancouver International Airport (YVR), American combat planes ran to the scene.
Wait, do we US combat planes? Why weren’t they Canadians?
The response lies in a decision -making process that involves multiple defense agencies in Canada and the United States, as well as in the logistics of fuel replenishment aircraft.
American F-15 combat aircraft responded to the incident on Tuesday, but CF-18 Canadians were quickly mobilized for a backup, according to the director of Operations of the Aerospace Defense Command of North America (NORAD), major. William Radiff with the Canadian Air Force.
However, the YVR incident, he said, was resolved before Canada’s Hornets could take off.
American combat planes responded quickly when a small plane was allegedly kidnapped and landed at Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday. But why weren’t Canadian airplanes sent? Liam Britten explains.
The Hornets were also far enough, in Alberta, near the border of Saskatchewan, that the airplanes would need to reproduce once they arrived at BC, Radiff added.
Radiff, whose military call sign is “Fat Daddy”, spoke with CBC from the NORAD headquarters at the base of the Peterson space force in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to discuss how these high -level defense decisions are made.
This interview has been edited by length and clarity.
How do you usually respond to threats?
We have strength throughout Canada and the United States capable of reacting to internal and external threats to North America.
We make a mission called Operation Noble Eagle, a conference. In general, it is in response to what we would say that it is an internal threat.
We obtain all the high -level leaders who need to speak at the conference, because what we are trying to do is build decision space, then, time, for our high -level leaders.
We have a series of tactics, techniques and procedures; We will march on these paths and use the assets we need to use to put ourselves in a position to give decision space to our senior leaders in the chain, to the prime minister and the president.
What happened in the Cessna incident on Tuesday?
The Nav Canada’s stolen plane report entered.
We bring general officers, two stars or more, responsible for the Canadian recommendation authority at the conference.
It is a dual conference with the American Civilian Aircraft Authority of two general stars.
The RCMP comes on the line. It gives us an idea of what is happening and what has been said.
We take a look at the distances and times involved, and evaluate that the closest combatants to be able to respond and have the greatest amount of gas when they arrived there to spend time, and the nearest oil tanker who could give them a service, were the f-15 f-15 fighters we sent.
We also went to Canr, who began the process to obtain the CF-18 of Cold Lake, high., In case it is a lasting mission, we want to make sure we have backs.
In the end it turned out that the thing itself was resolved before the Hornets were in the air, which is great.
After launch, what are the F-15 doing?
After the launch, the F-15 are under control, in this case, of the Western Air Defense sector, because, of course, it is western of the United States, but also as they come to cross the border, they would actually be transferred to the Canadian air defense sector. Actually, they would be transferred on coordination.
We practice this all the time.
So, particularly for an aspect of command and control, because as you can imagine, the American armed combatants who go to Canada or Canadian armed combatants who go to the United States could be an important emotion [act]. Well, it’s not because we practice it all the time.
Police say that the man accused of kidnapping a BC plane on Tuesday had published online religious claims, which reflects an ideological motive linked to save the world of climate change.
Many of the actions that were happening at this Oparal Eagle conference were the main generals of two stars who worked with the authorities to go: “Ok, if this continues along the way, we will have to make F-15 cross.” Therefore, we must have permission from the United States and Canada for that to happen.
This is really perfect because we practice it very often.
If the F-15 had needed to continue, we had all the authorities ready to go and cross the border, it was not necessary, as it turned out. We evaluated that the individual was not really representing a threat because he was flying on the airfield instead of Vancouver. It is still a threat, but where I was flying we gave us the ability to go, Ok, we are in a good position.
Who was at the table? Was the Canadian Defense Minister or the Secretary of Defense of the United States personally involved?
I cannot give you those details, but I can tell you that the intention of that conference is to gather all the higher leaders, police authorities and NORAD officials that we should have.
How close the F-15 arrived in Canada? No one seemed to see the F-15 on the Canadian side.
I can’t tell you exactly where they arrived, but what I can tell you is that it makes sense that the F-15 would not have necessarily seen depending on where they were. One of our tactics, techniques and procedures is to be in a position so that we can do something, but so that we are not necessarily seen.
In this particular case, based on what we had been observing and reports from Nav Canada and the Vancouver tower, we were in a position in what it is like, hey, we probably do not want to hurry and hit our nose where we should not have done it.
We were in a great tactical position for the time we had, and we could have approached what we wanted.
Why not the CF-18S in Cold Lake jumps to this situation?
We walk airplanes at this time, but, one of the great factors for Canadian aircraft, if they were going to run to Vancouver, when they arrive there, there will probably be a gas requirement.
Then we also have to take into account the times where the gas will come.
You said you practiced this procedure all the time. Is this a fairly standard operation?
This is a fairly standard procedure: a stolen plane is not so standard.
Has something changed with NORAD CF-18 capabilities or have availability decreased?
Canada’s defense is mission number 1 for the military. We see no decrease in the response of the CF-18 community, and the CF-18 continues to prioritize NORAD as its number 1 mission.
In fact, there has been a series of recent updates to the CF-18 that have made incredible leaps in technology that make it an even better platform than it was already.
As the relationship between Canada and the United States changes with commercial tensions and even annexation conversations, what is the reality of the forces that work together to keep North America safe?
It is the only binational command in the world; It has been a solid binational command since 1958, and nothing has changed.
We never talk about work politics. It is not something we do, nor does it affect what we do.
I would say that we are so tight and probably more strict than ever. As the world around us is more dangerous, I would say that NORAD is even closer than it has been.
But one last thing: we have the clock. That is the slogan here for NORAD.
To give it a great example, all the evaluators, we all live in the base in the homes that really have a safe, we call it the skiff. Basically it is a classified room that has all our systems. The days you are on, you are at work or at home. Because the deadlines are so small to answer the phone, do not pass the dog; You don’t do all these other things, and someone covers you when you go between work and home.
This important is this mission for us below. It is really important that everyone in Canada knows that in NORAD we have the clock.
