17 September 2008

Goose to get Hornets?

Goose Bay might soon be home to an unspecified number of CF-18 Hornets, according to David Pugliese.

Lots of anger there as you can see, although I don’t know how shocked they could be since I’ve reporting since April 2007 that the recommendation from CANSOFCOM is that JTF2 should move to Trenton.

So will anything ever be done about Goose Bay? I’m told a plan might be in the works to station a small number of CF-18s at the base for Northern sovereignty patrols. That would have a double impact in the sense it would show the Conservative government is acting on its commitments to defend Arctic sovereignty while at the same time doing something for Goose Bay.

It probably doesn’t make military sense but it would indeed be “win win” for the Conservatives and get people off the government’s back on the Goose Bay issue. No word, however, on when this might happen and whether it will even get beyond the planning stages (who knows what the bean counters are going to say on the cost of this proposal).

-srbp-