Canada silent on Heron UAV accident in Afghanistan

One of Canada's leased spy drones has had its wings clipped in a tarmac mishap at Kandahar Airfield - an incident that has raised questions about the murky world of accountability when private corporations that are invited on to the battlefield. No one was injured in the January accident, which involved an Heron unmanned surveillance vehicle (UAV), but the air force has nonetheless kept it and the resulting military flight safety investigation under a tight blanket of secrecy. At first, the military flatly refused to answer questions about the accident, even trying to prevent publication of this story by The Canadian Press on the grounds it would violate operational security. Publicity surrounding the incident would give the Taliban a "battle damage assessment," they argued, even though the aircraft had not been declared operational at the time of the accident and had not been in contact with the enemy. The military eventually relented, however, and released a terse statement that confirmed the incident took place, that no one had been injured and that no Canadian military personnel were involved.

"No further details about the incident are available at this time because an investigation is currently underway by the Flight Safety Team at Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing," said the statement. A spokeswoman for MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates in Ottawa also provided few details in response to questions, citing "confidentiality" with its client, the Department of National Defence. MDA has a two-year, $95-million contract with DND for battlefield surveillance in southern Afghanistan. The accident, believed to be a tarmac collision with a vehicle from another allied nation, was a minor setback in the grand scheme of things. But it has left defence officials at a loss to define where public accountability ends and corporate confidentiality begins. The Israeli-manufactured drones, which are flown by controllers on the ground, conduct reconnaissance for NATO forces keeping over-watch on the treacherous roads for Taliban fighters planting roadside bombs or planning ambushes. They were a key condition of the Manley report that extended Canada's combat mission. The federal cabinet chose last year to lease the surveillance capability, rather than purchase the UAVs outright - something that reflects a growing trend in military hardware, logistical support and even security services.

Unlike direct military purchases, these hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts get very little public scrutiny and questions, as in this case, are often deflected on the grounds of corporate or client confidentiality. The accident has, by the company's admission, not affected service to the military. "We would like to emphasize that this was a ground incident versus a flight accident, and that MDA staff and equipment were not at fault," Monica Verma, the company's communications director, said in an email reply to queries. "Irrespective of this incident, MDA is continuing to provide daily surveillance operations in support of the Canadian Forces." MDA is under contract to provide a specific number of flying hours to the air force and must fufill that obligation, regardless of how many aircraft it has in service, Dave Hargreaves, a senior official at MDA, said during an interview about the project in December.

Verma said the damaged drone is under repair. With the end of the Cold War and the slashing of defence budgets, the vast majority of Western militaries - Canada included - began outsourcing functions that had until the early 1990s been strictly within the chain of command. Canada leases private helicopters to shuttle supplies between remote desert bases in Afghanistan, and has signed a long-term lease with the owners of a container ship to move military stores. Russian transport jets also ferried Canadian heavy equipment before the air force bought Boeing C-17s, while engineering giant SNC-Lavalin has provided support services at overseas bases. The federal government also contracts private security agencies to protect certain embassies and missions abroad. A senior defence official, speaking on background last fall, said the trend towards leasing and more private involvement in providing services to the military would "likely accelerate" in the coming years because the pace of technological change and the cumbersome procurement process mean sophisticated weapons systems are sometimes outdated within a couple of years. It's unclear when the safety investigation into the Heron accident, which is being co-ordinated out of Ottawa, will be complete.

Posted in: Afghanistan,Fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban,UAV