CF-18 HORNETS OPERATING OUT OF COMOX

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FIGHTER JETS OVER VANCOUVER ISLAND

Why Is This Not Bigger News?

Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornets in flight

Image: Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornets. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Residents around CFB Comox have been hearing and seeing increased fighter jet activity this week, including CF-18 Hornets operating out of 19 Wing Comox.

According to a public notice shared by 19 Wing/Totem Times, aircraft from 4 Wing Cold Lake are conducting training in the vicinity of Comox and at various locations on Vancouver Island until June 22. The notice says CF-18 Hornets are operating out of 19 Wing Comox and transiting to the west coast of Vancouver Island, with most of the training taking place offshore.

Local observers have reported six CF-18s and four Alpha Jets involved in the activity. That specific count has not been confirmed in the public notice located so far. But the official notice does confirm CF-18 training out of Comox.

Points to Ponder

  • CF-18 training out of CFB Comox is official and public.
  • The exact number of CF-18s and Alpha Jets reported by local observers has not been confirmed in the official public notice found so far.
  • 19 Wing Comox has obvious strategic importance on Canada’s Pacific coast.
  • Canada’s CF-18 fleet is aging while the future fighter replacement issue remains politically and strategically sensitive.
  • At a time of tension around defence, sovereignty and Canada-U.S. military dependence, this should be of more than passing local interest.

For many Canadians, fighter jets overhead may sound like routine military training. In one sense, it is. Fighter pilots have to train. Aircraft have to fly. Crews have to remain ready.

But in the current climate, this should be of more than passing local interest.

CFB Comox is not simply a local airport with uniforms. The Royal Canadian Air Force describes 19 Wing Comox as supporting air, maritime and land operations, including search and rescue, surveillance and operations connected to Canada’s western approaches. Its location on Vancouver Island gives it obvious strategic importance on Canada’s Pacific coast.

That matters because Canada’s fighter force is at a sensitive point. The CF-18, officially the CF-188 Hornet, remains a multi-role fighter used for air defence, air superiority, ground attack, tactical support, training and aerospace testing. But it is also an aging aircraft type that Canada has been planning to replace for years.

The Auditor General has warned that Canada’s fighter aircraft play a primary role in defending Canadian and North American airspace, while also noting the challenge of delivering Canada’s future fighter capability. In plain English, Canada still depends on older CF-18s while the future fighter program remains under scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the F-35 issue has become more than a simple aircraft purchase. Recent reporting has raised questions about Canada’s defence spending, the future fighter review, interoperability with the United States, sovereignty, industrial benefits and whether Canada can fully rely on U.S.-controlled technology in a more uncertain world.

There are also reports and local observations of Alpha Jets connected to the current activity. Top Aces, a Canadian private air-combat training company, operates Dornier Alpha Jets and describes them as useful for adversary support, anti-shipping training, target-tow missions, joint terminal attack controller training and electronic-warfare training.

The federal government’s Contracted Airborne Training Services program with Top Aces is intended to provide realistic combat-readiness training for Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

None of this means there is an emergency. It does not mean the public should jump to wild conclusions. But it does mean that fighter aircraft operating out of CFB Comox during a tense period in Canada-U.S. defence relations deserves more than silence from mainstream media.

At a time when Canada is wrestling with its future fighter fleet, NORAD modernization, defence independence, Arctic and Pacific security, and dependence on the United States, fighter training out of CFB Comox is not just noise in the sky.

It is a reminder that national defence is real, Canadian airspace matters, and Vancouver Island is not some distant sideline.

The question is not why the jets are training.

The better question is why almost nobody in the mainstream press seems interested in explaining it.

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