Rainbow1910
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Recent article from the Hills Times reports that there will be no MCDV deployment to West Africa in 2024 due to changing priorities within the fleet. Relevant snippets below:
Since 2017, the Canadian Navy has deployed two-Kingston class coastal defence vessels annually to West Africa as part of Operation Projection—an ongoing forward presence mission which includes Canada’s participation in a multinational maritime exercise. The only year Canadian ships didn’t participate in the deployment was in 2021 due to COVID-19 impacts.
Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin confirmed to The Hill Times that Canada isn’t planning to send ships to West Africa in 2024.
“These platforms are required to train our next generation of sailors. As part of the Canadian Armed Forces Reconstitution efforts, force regeneration is a priority for the Royal Canadian Navy. The two Kingston-class ships will remain in Halifax, which allows a rotation of sailors to go to sea for short periods of time to learn practices and work with equipment,” Poulin said, adding that “reconstitution”—work to address the Armed Forces' personnel shortfall—was “the key reason behind this decision.”
The spokesperson added that the “core crews of the ships would have been able to deploy if directed,” but noted the priority is to train the next generation of sailors to be able to expand the number who can deploy on future missions.