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Every aircraft fleet the Royal Canadian Air Force flies, save one, is set to be replaced or upgraded, with most of the work crammed into a five-year window.
Col. Robert Tyler told Best Defence Ontario on Day 1 that the C-17 is the only fleet not yet slated for change, and that the key period runs from 2028 to 2032-33.
“This is the biggest modernization that the Air Force is going to go through since the invention of the jet engine,” Tyler said.
WHY IT MATTERS
The scale touches nearly every RCAF community at once, from fighters to search and rescue to training.
Compressing it into roughly five years puts heavy strain on personnel, infrastructure and industry.
Tyler acknowledged the force will face a capability gap while old fleets retire and new ones come online.
THE GAP
Tyler was candid about the transition.
“There’s going to be a period in time where we’re not going to have everything that we want to be able to do the job that we know we have to do,” he said.
He called it a challenge, but said the result will be a fully modern air force by 2035.
THIRD GEN TO SIXTH GEN
Tyler described today’s RCAF as “still effectively a third-gen Air Force,” with most of its aircraft showing their age.
The goal is to reach fifth generation, then sixth, as quickly as possible.
He said platforms alone won’t get it there. Data management, cyber, digital services, intelligence, logistics and infrastructure are what separate a sixth-gen force from a third-gen one.
WHAT’S MOVING
Satellite comms: The RCAF is working with Telesat on its enhanced Arctic satellite communications project, using a military version of Telesat Lightspeed. The Canadian-owned low Earth orbit constellation would keep military data in Canada, and Tyler said it could potentially be offered to NATO.
Training: The new aircraft under the Future Aircrew Training program is entering service now and will also replace the Snowbirds’ jets in the next few years.
C-17: The lone holdout. Tyler said the RCAF hopes to tie into a U.S. Air Force modernization program.
THE FRICTION
Tyler said projects are advancing but running into “government desire versus bureaucratic difficulties.” He expects visible progress over the next couple of years.
BOTTOM LINE
Ottawa has the political will and the money is flowing. The test now is execution: replacing almost an entire air force in five years without leaving dangerous holes along the way.
