Navy takes lead role in NATO mission









''We would either be directed to board vessels or to shadow them, in some cases covertly, and have them reported so they can be intercepted,'' Rouleau said. Many of the interceptions take place by the naval forces of the nations the ships are headed towards, he added.

He said depending on the mission his force can be boosted to as many as 13 ships from various countries in the alliance. The main mission of the task force is to provide NATO with a rapid intervention capability in case of emergencies. As part of that, Rouleau said the roles of the force can include embargo enforcement, search and rescue, delivery of disaster relief and humanitarian aid, monitoring and intelligence gathering, and counterterrorism operations.

''Once we're outside of (Operation Active Endeavor) and during our patrol we do maritime security and maritime domain awareness,'' said Rouleau, a Quebec City native.

''The bad guys are not only in the Med. They're in a lot of places where people would not expect, so we patrol everywhere.''

In addition, the force takes part in NATO exercises. It recently finished an exercise off the coast of Denmark designed to test methods to rescue civilians trapped in a war zone. Earlier this summer, the flotilla took part in exercises near the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa.

NATO nations take turns in commanding the task force, but that is limited to countries that operate command and control ships. Canada has such vessels with HMCS Iroquois and HMCS Athabaskan, which Rouleau operated from during the first part of the year.

More NATO nations, such as Spain and Denmark, are acquiring command and control ships so Canada will likely have to wait probably seven or eight years before having its turn again to assume command over the flotilla, he said.

Canada's command and control destroyers are aging and need replacement, according to a newly released report from the standing Senate committee on national security and defence. The report recommended the government move ahead with what is known as the Single Ship Replacement, a type of new vessel that would replace both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the navy's Halifax-class frigates.

It's unclear whether the Conservatives will proceed with such a project, but the senators noted if the Single Ship Replacement program is not in the government's soon-to-be released defence equipment plan then serious questions about its approach to reequipping the military msfust be asked.

Rouleau acknowledged HMCS Athabaskan and Iroquois are old, but said the destroyers and their crews rose the challenge of taking the lead in the NATO force.

The last time a Canadian held the command of the NATO task force was in 2000. A U.S. officer takes over from Rouleau in January.

Ottawa Citizen


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