Building connections between those in uniform and those in industry was the key focus of the Saskatchewan Aerospace and Defense Forum.

The event took place on Wednesday at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. Industry partners gathered for a panel discussion between Commander 1 Canadian Air Division Major General Chris McKenna and Canadian Armed Forces Colonel Christopher Hunt.

Both speakers underscored a need for increased partnership with industry to maximize defense capabilities. McKenna says the three current tactical gaps he has noticed are in command control communications, domain awareness, and insufficient deterrence by punishment.

“I think a blue suit or a green suit needs to be invested against risk, readiness, and hardship. Everything else can be taken care of by industry for the most part. We’re going to be a lot more reliant on you in the future…We need help.”

Hunt explains that industry support also looks like providing training support, technical services, basic supports like keeping the electricity running on bases, and ideas for growth.

“We, as an organization, need to learn from businesses on how to facilitate that growth and how we can partner together,” Hunt explains. “Those of us in uniform have to be humble enough to recognize the experience and the expertise exists in rooms like this and try and leverage it better.”

McKenna echoed that the Royal Canadian Air Forces does not have enough people to successfully fulfill its purpose.

“The example I’ll use is the way we train fighter pilots now. We stopped training fighter pilots in Canada, because our aircraft sort of timed out…We do that in the U.S., and we do that in Italy now.”

He says the RCAF is made up of about 15,000 people but needs to expand to be between 20,000 to 22,000 in order to do the mission sets they’ve been asked of.

Last year, about 7500 people were put through basic training camp. Hunt says that intake figure will need to double or triple in order to meet potential government objectives, especially in a crisis situation.

However, an older, retiring force means there is also a current mentorship challenge. McKenna believes this is another aspect where industry could step up and assist those in uniform. He encourages industry partners to ‘lean in’, especially in a time of geopolitical unrest.