Search and Rescue Aircraft

There have been some recent articles in the media regarding the viability of maintaining the Buffalo, which is used on the West Coast for search and rescue, until 2015 or so when a new fixed-wing search and rescue (FWSAR) aircraft is expected to be available. The Buffalo is a small, unique fleet which is high maintenance and for which spare parts are increasingly more difficult to obtain. The replacement project has been around for about five years, but has not moved for a number of reasons. The most glaring is the fact that there are few aircraft which can meet the requirement and there is a perception that there would be no meaningful competition. The assumption that competition is good would seem to be reasonable but, in fact, the Government has had good success in negotiating a favourable price even when there is a single supplier. The recent C130J purchase is a good example of this.

Whatever process the Government chooses to follow, there is a real need to replace the Buffalo and the Hercules aircraft which are dedicated to SAR. They are old, increasingly difficult to maintain, and becoming more and more expensive. A new aircraft, with modern systems on board is not too much to expect in this critical mission where the lives of Canadians in peril are at stake.