Billions in new aircraft just drop in bucket, air force head says

Posted on: Aug. 25th, 2006 || Source: canada.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Billions in new aircraft just drop in bucket, air force head says

TORONTO - The head of the Canadian air force says $18 billion and 75 new aircraft are only a start at rebuilding an air force that was at one time the fourth largest in the world.

Lt.-Gen. Steve Lucas told the National Post on Thursday the purchases of new heavy transport planes, fleets of new helicopters and replacements for the military's Hercules cargo planes are a good beginning, but more will soon be needed.

''Not only can we see the light at the end of the tunnel, we can see beyond the end of the tunnel and we are moving rapidly to that,'' he said during an interview with the paper's editorial board.

Ottawa announced in June that it will buy 16 CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and four C-17 Globemaster cargo jets for a total cost of $8 billion. Another 17 aircraft will be bought to replace Canada's C-130 Hercules transport planes for about $4.9 billion.

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