From: abc@a123.ca   
      
   Hunt for Red October: Military wants submarine surveillance in Arctic   
      
   By David Pugliese, Postmedia News August 27, 2011   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Defence Minister Peter McKay and Chief of   
   Defence Staff General W.J. Natynczyk approach the submarine HMCS   
   Cornerbrook in Frobisher Bay off Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic   
   August 19, 2009. Canada's military wants the Harper government to take   
   part in rebuilding a Cold War ocean surveillance system, arguing that the   
   country's waters, including the approaches to the Arctic, are vulnerable   
   to Chinese and Russian submarines.   
   Photograph by: Andy Clark, REUTERS   
      
   Canada's military wants the Harper government to take part in rebuilding   
   a Cold War ocean surveillance system, arguing that the country's waters,   
   including the approaches to the Arctic, are vulnerable to Chinese and   
   Russian submarines.   
      
   The current system, overseen by the U.S., involves specialized vessels   
   and underwater sensors scattered around the globe to detect submarine   
   movements.   
      
   But with the end of the Cold War in the 1990s and the collapse of the   
   former Soviet Union, that sensor technology, including systems called   
   arrays, were not modernized. They now need to be upgraded or replaced.   
      
   In some cases Canada shut down its facilities for monitoring underwater   
   activities.   
      
   "The oldest portions of the global infrastructure were terminated without   
   replacement — Argentia, Nfld and Shelburne, N.S. fixed arrays — creating   
   gaps covering the Arctic approaches and major portions of the Eastern   
   Atlantic," reads a briefing note sent by defence chief Gen. Walter   
   Natynczyk to Defence Minister Peter MacKay.   
      
   That September 2010 document was obtained by the Citizen under the Access   
   to Information law.   
      
   As proof of the re-emergence of the submarine threat, the military   
   informed MacKay about what it called the dramatic increase in the numbers   
   of submarines around the world; an incident where a Chinese submarine   
   surfaced in the midst of a U.S. naval task force in 2006; the voyage of a   
   Russian submarine into the eastern Atlantic in 2009; and the sinking of a   
   South Korean destroyer in 2010, likely by a North Korean submarine.   
      
   The military wants to become more involved in the U.S.-led underwater   
   surveillance system, arguing that it would be too expensive to put its   
   own sensors into the ocean.   
      
   The warning about Chinese submarines echoes similar concerns contained in   
   a report issued Wednesday by the Pentagon. It pointed out that China's   
   military capabilities are growing and that could threaten stability in   
   the Asia-Pacific region.   
      
   But China has criticized the Pentagon report to Congress, noting that it   
   exaggerates the threat posed by its military.   
      
   Over the last year MacKay, as well as members of the Prime Minister's   
   Office, have also voiced concern about growing Russian capabilities in   
   the Arctic. The emergence of Russian surveillance flights near Canadian   
   airspace in the north is one reason why Canada needs the U.S.-built F-35   
   stealth fighter, Conservative cabinet ministers have argued.   
      
   Critics, however, have dismissed such claims as sabre-rattling and have   
   said there is little military threat in the Arctic.   
      
   Steve Staples, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, said   
   spending hundreds of millions of dollars contributing to a U.S.-run   
   global-wide submarine surveillance system is a waste of money.   
      
   "We can't be chasing every goblin we think is under the bed," said   
   Staples, whose organization has campaigned against high military   
   spending.   
      
   Staples said Canada has the capability to place its own sensors to cover   
   its Arctic waters, something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised   
   years ago but never followed through on.   
      
   "Do we really have to be worried about Chinese submarines in the Arctic   
   when our ally, the U.S., won't even tell us when their submarines are up   
   there?" he asked.   
      
   The Department of National Defence did not comment on the issue of the   
   U.S.-led underwater sensor system.   
      
   In the 2005-2006 election campaign that saw the Conservatives come to   
   power, Harper proposed building a national sensor system in the north   
   that would detect the movement of foreign submarines. "Under a   
   Conservative government, Canada will know when foreign ships, whether   
   they be Russian, British, Danish, American or anyone else, are in our   
   waters," Harper said.   
      
   No such system was created, although Defence Research and Development   
   Canada is conducting experiments on sensors in the Arctic.   
      
   Retired rear admiral Roger Girouard said improving Canada's underwater   
   surveillance capability is needed as a form of insurance. He believes   
   such improvements, in conjunction with the U.S., would not cost that   
   much.   
      
   Girouard, who teaches at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC., said   
   China does not appear to pose a threat to Canada now, but it is in the   
   process of building up its military capabilities.   
      
   "There's no sign right now that the national intent in China is to do   
   anything aggressive," said Girouard, who once served at the Argentia   
   surveillance post. "But there is an emerging capability which can   
   represent a threat."   
      
   He noted that it makes sense to keep track of Chinese military   
   activities.   
      
   Western strategists have talked about containing the Chinese military   
   while at the same time engaging its government with diplomatic efforts,   
   he added.   
      
   Girouard said Canada's anti-submarine skills, once considered the best in   
   the world, were allowed to degrade over the years, particularly as the   
   Canadian Forces focused most of its efforts in the last decade on the   
   Afghan war.   
      
   According to the briefing note for MacKay, senior officers of the Royal   
   Canadian Navy have already had discussions with their counterparts in the   
   U.S. Navy and U.K. Royal Navy about the need to co-operate more on   
   underwater surveillance.   
      
   Canada's participation in the global network, called the Integrated   
   Undersea Surveillance System, has shrunk to a 36-person detachment   
   located in Washington State, the Canadian Forces pointed out to MacKay.   
   Those military personnel monitor submarine movements in the Pacific   
   Ocean.   
      
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