Sunday, November 18, 2012

Military gives private vintage air firm more than $600,000 in free services

The Canadian military has given a private organization in Gatineau more than $600,000 in free services as well as explosives as part of a deal the air force says helps promote its image.

But the arrangement with Vintage Wings, which involves the 1950s-era Hawk One jet, has raised concerns in some quarters of the military, according to documents obtained by the Citizen under Access to Information.

The Royal Canadian Air Force documents also warned that providing Vintage Wings with explosive cartridges for an aircraft ejection seat could leave the military in a lurch and lead to the grounding of one of its own planes.

Others question why defence dollars are being spent on a project that doesn’t contribute directly to combat capabilities.

The deal with Vintage Wings, a not-for-profit aviation foundation conceived by Ottawa high-tech businessman Michael Potter, was originally supposed to last for one year to celebrate the Centennial of Flight in 2009. The Hawk One was painted in the colours of the Golden Hawks military aerobatic team.

The Defence Department provided Vintage Wings with services totalling $460,000, but did not charge anything, according to the documents.

However, officers have now extended the arrangement to 2014. Hawk One is owned by Vintage Wings and is flown by a civilian. The military provides technical support, U.S.-supplied explosive components for the jet’s ejection seat, fuel at DND contract rates as well as access to military airfields and hangar space, according to the documents. Hawk One’s ejection seat is also provided by the military.

Vintage Wings president Robert Fleck stated “there is no transfer of DND funds to Vintage Wings or Hawk One. The entire Hawk One program is funded through corporate sponsorship, private donations and appearance fees at the various locations we visit each summer.”

But that’s not what the 2011 RCAF documents indicate. They state the cost to taxpayers for the continued support to April 2014 is more than $157,000.

The full costs of the deal and whether the arrangement will go beyond 2014 is not known, however. The RCAF did not respond to the Citizen’s request for comment.

But the deal extension raised concerns inside defence headquarters, where there were questions about whether the military had U.S. government approval to transfer the explosives to a private organization.

Transferring the ejection seat explosive cartridges could also leave a Canadian Forces aircraft without needed components, the documents warned. “The provision of these components to VWC (Vintage Wings Canada) could, therefore, cause one additional Tutor aircraft to be grounded,” it added.

The military’s Snowbirds aerobatic team uses Tutor aircraft.

Some military staff, however, argued the likelihood of that occurring was remote. Still, one officer recommended against loaning the explosives.

Fleck, however, stated Vintage Wings is in full compliance with the U.S. regulations and has received a certificate to indicate that. The certificate was issued by Public Works in August 2011 after military officers raised their concerns.

Vintage Wings has a close relationship with military leaders.

In 2009, the air force sent a C-17 transport plane to New Zealand to pick up a Vintage Wing plane and fly it back to Canada. The air force claimed the flight didn’t cost taxpayers anything extra since the massive transport aircraft was returning from Afghanistan. But they never did explain why a C-17 returning to Canada would have to travel through New Zealand.

That same year, air force commander Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt approved extending the agreement to lend military material to Vintage Wings for Hawk One. At the time, air force officers wrote in an internal document that the loan would get the organization to 2010, after which they would not need government support.

But in 2011, air force officers pointed out that Vintage Wings still needed assistance. In June of that year, senior officers, including the now current chief of the defence staff Gen. Tom Lawson, made a pitch to then RCAF commander Lt.-Gen. Andre Dechamps to continue providing Vintage Wings with services at no charge.

Dave Peart, an air force special adviser, argued that Hawk One helps air force public relations efforts at air shows. Fleck makes a similar argument.

“Why did DND and the RCAF continue their relationship with Hawk One, even after the initiative had shifted from being a military program to a civilian one?” he asked. “I can’t speak for them but I can tell you that our corporate partners such as Discovery Air, Magellan Aerospace, Nav Canada, WestJet and many others have been delighted with the positive exposure Hawk One has provided them.”

More than two million people in the U.S. and Canada have seen the Hawk One at air shows or on display, according to Fleck.

The Canadian Forces and the DND have been under the gun to save money. Civilian employees have been laid off and equipment mothballed. Training of units in developing nations has also been scaled back, a move designed to save a little more than $400,000.

Story:    http://www.ottawacitizen.com

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