RCAF statement: Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom trilat meeting

Major-General Denis O’Reilly, Deputy Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), welcomed the Assistant Chief of the Royal Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal Suraya Marshall, and the Deputy Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Reynolds, for a visit to Canada from October 7-10.

The three nations met to discuss a number of areas of concern for their Air Forces, including an increasingly volatile threat environment, while also taking the opportunity to share best practices for capabilities like Over-the-Horizon Radars and 5th Generation Fighters. They also discussed joint training and joint exercise opportunities.

The trip included a visit to 22 Wing North Bay, Ontario, which is responsible for providing surveillance, identification, control and warning for the aerospace defence of Canada and North America.

The Deputy Chiefs received briefings as well as a demonstration of a new cloud-based command and control (CBC2) software integrator. CBC2 incorporates a large number of tactically relevant data feeds as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning to better inform and enable decision-makers.

The Deputy Commander of the RCAF affirmed the importance of its defence relationship with the United Kingdom and Australia, and the need to intensify collaboration on bilateral and trilateral defence and security priorities to address current and future threats.

The meeting served as a strong reminder of the hard work, dedication, and sacrifices that Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have made throughout history to achieve today’s unique and multifaceted defence relationship and friendship.