Vladimir Putin made it clear that NATO’s bases in Eastern Europe are on his radar, when he said last week that Russia reserves the right to strike the alliance’s military installations.
The words must have chilled the 1,600 or so Canadians based in Latvia supporting Operation Reassurance, the biggest reinforcement of NATO’s collective defence in a generation.
According to people familiar with the mission, morale is flat, with many of the troops feeling exposed, under-equipped and forgotten by the Canadian public. The black humour in Camp Adazi has it that the Canadians would be a “speedbump” if the Russians attacked.
Comparisons have been made to Hong Kong in 1941, when 2,000 under-equipped Canadian troops were sent on a hopeless mission to defend the territory from Japanese attack and suffered a 50-per-cent casualty rate.
The Department of National Defence (DND) has been attempting to rectify a situation where the initial force was sent to Latvia without air or anti-tank defences.
DND has since deployed helicopters and 15 Leopard 2 tanks.
In March 2023, then defence minister Anita Anand said that Canada would be acquiring a portable anti-tank missile system; anti-drone capability and a short-range, shoulder-wielded air defence system. She categorized them as “urgent operational requirements,” which invokes national security exemptions from competitive tendering and which, in theory, speeds up the procurement process.
The $227-million MANPADS system (man portable air defence system) — rebranded as SPADS (soldier portable air defence system) in the inclusive Canadian military — was ordered from Saab Canada and is slowly being deployed.
The first phase of the anti-drone capability has also been completed. DND awarded a $25-million contract to the U.K.’s Leonardo for its Falcon Shield fixed-site system and a $19-million contract for CACI Inc.’s portable BEAM drone-detection system.
But sources suggest the progress of acquiring the Portable Anti-X missile system (PAXM), with its capacity to destroy main battle tanks, has proven more fraught — and, that due diligence has been sacrificed by the need for speed.
DND awarded a $44-million contract to Israel’s Rafael for its SPIKE LR2 system, but is now said to be having doubts about its capability and is considering cancelling the contract.
At a defence committee meeting in November 2023, Conservative defence critic James Bezan questioned the department’s then assistant deputy minister Troy Crosby about the PAXM contract, which had not yet been awarded.
Bezan asked whether the contract was sole-sourced and how the department planned to test the systems to ensure they were the best on offer.
Crosby said all three urgent operational requests were subject to competitive processes.
But he sidestepped the question about testing. “What we’re aiming to do is bring the service proven capabilities that our allies have in service,” he said.
Crosby added that when the Canadian Armed Forces identifies an urgent need, the department applies itself to that requirement. “I think we can demonstrate that we are able to deliver that need quite quickly,” he said.
Yet 18 months after publicly announcing the intention to expedite its introduction, there is still no anti-tank system in Latvia.
The curse of DND — that it can offer either diligence or dispatch, but not both — appears to have struck again.
Defence watchers familiar with the file and process say that it would be normal practice to hold a “shoot off” to test the top two or three contenders before awarding the contract.
Sources say that did not happen and that the SPIKE LR2 was only tested for promised capabilities after the successful bid was made public.
The Forces are said to have been underwhelmed by the results, prompting speculation that DND may restart the competition.
I asked the department whether a “shoot off’ was held with all qualified bidders; whether the SPIKE LR2 system met all accuracy requirements; and whether there are plans to cancel the contract.
That should be information that is immediately accessible. But DND replied that it would not be able to supply it before my deadline — 72 hours from the time the question was posed.
Rafael was also asked to provide comment but also did not respond before the deadline.
It may well be that the process is proceeding smoothly and that Canadian soldiers will be in receipt of the promised anti-tank missile system in short order.
But DND could easily have clarified that.
It seems more likely that Canadian troops holding the line in Latvia won’t have one of the most basic weapons they need to defend themselves for many months to come — just as the situation in Eastern Europe grows more and more precarious.
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