Smoke and dirt kick up as tanks fire of rounds during a 2018 live-fire exercise by BATUS. Changes are coming to CFB Suffield as the British Army looks to contract out various day-to-day operations and maintenance, the News has learned.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A mandatory all-staff meeting at CFB Suffield on Monday informed contractors and staff that operations are changing while a new purpose for the sprawling live-fire facility is determined.
That comes after three years of reduced training by the British Army and shipments of equipment back to the United Kingdom.
But, it doesn’t spell an immediate end to the British presence that has existed in the region since the early 1970s.
Attendees of the meeting told the News that some day-to-day and maintenance operations previously managed jointly between the Canadian and British contingents will now be contracted out by British authorities.
The effect on staffing levels at the facility 40 kilometres west of Medicine Hat is not yet known.
The Canadian Department of National Defence did not provide a comment Monday.
The future use of the base has been in the spotlight for several years since major training by British Army Training Unit Suffield was halted.
In November, Canadian base commander Stephen Burke told a business crowd in Medicine Hat that the status of CFB Suffield was “assured” but that use and operations would change.
Over the same time, said Burke in November, use by the Canadian Forces had increased, as had activity at the Defence Research Station and among other users, such as oilfield and grazing interests.
In late 2021 press reports from the U.K. stated that full closure was being contemplated as an integrated review stated training should be focused in strategic geographic areas, such as the Middle East and Africa.
United Kingdom Defence Minister Ben Wallace released a statement in response that British Army presence in southeast Alberta would change but not end.
“We will change what we do there because some of those forces we might use elsewhere but, no, we’re not closing BATUS,” he told Forces.net in November 2021.
Annual large-scale training, which typically brought 5,000 to 10,000 British Army Troops to the region since 1972, was halted in 2020.
At that time, units remained in Britain to aid in pandemic response, and then in 2021 training was done in Germany to avoid potential travel bans.
A 2021 U.K. Ministry of Defence review on modernizing that country’s forces decided to retain its heavy armoured division, but only upgrade about two thirds of its fleet of Challenger 2 tanks. That would mean about 70 would be mothballed while the remainder might be stationed at bases closer to strategic areas, such as the Middle East or Africa.
The training fleet of Challenger 2s was shipped back to the U.K., along with more than 1,000 other vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment over the last two years.
Tanks to Ukraine?
The training fleet of Challenger 2 tanks that was shipped out of Suffield may be bound for Ukraine, according to a report on Monday by Sky News in Britain, which has since been picked up widely.
The British Army plans to upgrade more than half its 227 battle tanks and mothball the rest after a 2021 review of armour capabilities.
Last spring about half the operational Challenger 2s were deployed to Poland, Finland and other Eastern European countries to support anti-aggression exercises.
A report from Sky News on Monday stated that the government of British PM Rishi Sunak was considering a plan to supply 10 unmodified Challenger 2 tanks directly to Ukraine forces.
Such a move would mark the first time a NATO member responded to Ukraine’s request for heavy armour to assist in its conflict against Russia.
This week, the United States agreed to forward 50 armoured vehicles fitted with anti-tank weapons, and Poland is evaluating a request to provide some of its Leopard II tanks.
Ten tanks would be enough to equip a squadron, according to the report. The next major joint announcement from U.S.-led supporting nations is expected on Jan. 20.
