News
Investing in Shearwater
Peter MacKay will announce a $170-million spending package today to prepare the Shearwater airbase for Canada's new fleet of Cyclone helicopters.
September 20, 2007 By Carey Fredericks
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay will announce a $170-million spending package today to prepare the Shearwater airbase for Canada's new fleet of Cyclone helicopters.
It's expected MacKay, the federal minister for the Atlantic region, will outline how the money will be spent on the construction of new hangars and other facilities for the aircraft.
Capt. Sonia Connock, a spokeswoman at 12 Wing Shearwater, says the funding will cover the building of two large hangars and a maintenance support facility.
The buildings at the Halifax-area base will be used to maintain the outgoing fleet of Sea King helicopters and conduct operations on the new Cyclones.
The first of the 28 Cyclones are due to arrive in January 2009.
The Sea Kings, now more than 40 years old, are expected to be phased out completely by 2012.
The head of the Canadian air force has said that although the base will undergo extensive upgrades, there likely won't be an increase in personnel. Lt.-Gen. Steve Lucas says there will be roughly the same number of people on the base doing different jobs.
