HALIFAX 鈥� Canada鈥檚 defence minister travelled to Halifax Thursday to tout a major subcontract as part of the $1.2-billion upgrade of the military鈥檚 fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters.
Anita Anand announced that IMP Aerospace and Defence is to deliver 13 upgraded Cormorant helicopters to the Canadian Armed Forces following work done at its Halifax facilities.
Under the revitalization deal first announced in December, the main contractor 鈥� Leonardo UK Ltd. 鈥� is to build three new helicopters to increase the size of the Cormorant fleet to 16.
鈥淭he Cormorant fleet has been serving Canada since 2001 ... but it requires upgrades to remain operationally effective,鈥� Anand told a gathering at an IMP hangar near Halifax Stanfield International Airport. 鈥淭he fleet will be upgraded to the most advanced version of the helicopter.鈥�
Officials weren鈥檛 specific about the impact on local employment, saying only that the subcontract would mean hundreds of jobs for the company. Anand did say the Cormorant upgrade project has the potential to contribute nearly $79 million annually to Canada鈥檚 GDP and sustain 650 jobs a year for Canadian companies over a 12-year period.
Delivery of the upgraded helicopters is expected to begin in 2026 after work to improve the aircraft鈥檚 internal navigational and communications systems, among other upgrades.
David Gossen, president of IMP Aerospace, called the subcontract a 鈥渟trategic win鈥� for his company. 鈥淔irst and foremost, it will create hundreds of jobs, and secondly, it increases our technology base,鈥� Gossen said.
He said the agreement would see his company鈥檚 technicians and engineers trained on the helicopter鈥檚 latest technology at Leonardo鈥檚 facilities in the United Kingdom. 鈥淭hey will bring home that know-how, and they will position us for future work,鈥� he said.
The federal government鈥檚 contract with Leonardo includes $1.168 billion for work on the helicopter, while $78 million will go toward the purchase of a training simulator from Montreal-based CAE Inc.
Cormorants are currently used to conduct search-and-rescue missions out of Comox, B.C., Gander, N.L., and Greenwood, N.S. The addition of three more helicopters is expected to see the fleet expand to include operations out of Trenton, Ont.
Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, the regional minister for Nova Scotia, said the modernization of the helicopter fleet will increase capabilities of the Armed Forces.
"This is the kind of thing that's going to support men and women in uniform by making sure they've got new and reliable equipment," he said in an interview from Ottawa. "But it's also going to ensure that the search and rescue needs that the military may be called in to support are going to be improved."
Fraser, whose riding includes the IMP facility, said the new contracts will pump millions of dollars into the local economy.
"This is good news from a public safety point of view, and it's great news for our local economy, with hundreds of people who are going to be working at good-paying jobs at IMP."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2023.
鈥� With files from Michael MacDonald
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
