Revisiting 1942 Dieppe Raid

Was the Dieppe raid a cover to steal an Enigma machine?

New research suggests the real intent of the historic raid on Dieppe in 1942 was to steal a machine that would help crack top-secret German codes.

Military historian David O’Keefe spent 15 years searching through the once-classified and ultra-secret war files and says the real purpose behind the Dieppe operation—which cost hundreds of Canadian soldiers their lives — was to capture advanced coding technology from the German headquarters near the French beach.

“For years, so many veterans, men who stormed the beaches and ended up in prisoners of war camps, had no clue what the reason was that they were there,” O’Keefe tells Global National’s Christina Stevens.

“They had their own missions, but they did not understand what the driving force was behind the raid.”

Historians have assigned many purposes to the disastrous raid: to gather intelligence from prisoners and captured materials, to assess Germany’s response to amphibious raids, to boost Allied morale and to assure the Soviets—locked in a titanic struggle with Germany — that the west was committed to fighting in Europe.

Good article to go along with this map at the link above.

h/t Shelldrake

By: Brant

Empty Promises on Canadian Defense Investments?

The Economist has a bleak outlook on plans vs reality in Canadian defense spending.

One of the main ways Stephen Harper, Canada’s Conservative prime minister, has sought to distinguish himself from his Liberal predecessors is by building a modern army ready to fight, rather than merely for peacekeeping. In the 2011 election campaign he promised to fulfil a C$15 billion ($15 billion) contract for 65 F-35 fighter aircraft despite a tough economy. In October he announced Canada’s biggest-ever arms order, for naval and coastguard ships costing C$35 billion. The structure of the procurement was widely praised for avoiding political interference.

But the glow has not lasted. In April Canada’s auditor-general found that the government had misled Parliament, deliberately underestimating the price of the F-35s by almost C$10 billion, by excluding replacement aircraft, upgrades and training and maintenance costs. On July 4th Mr Harper named a new junior minister at the defence department as the deal’s spokesman. But procurement remains awkwardly split between the defence and public-works ministries. One result was that last year the military forfeited C$600m allocated for equipment but not spent.

Last month Walter Natynczyk, the outgoing chief of the defence staff, criticised a delay in signing detailed contracts for the shipbuilding scheme. The navy fears it will fall victim to a C$3.5 billion cut in defence spending over the next seven years. On July 11th the armed forces were given new cause to worry, when the army scrapped bidding on a C$800m lorry contract for lack of funds, minutes before the deadline.

By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: The War of 1812 Minigame

Wrapping up our anniversary week coverage on the War of 1812 comes a free minigame, from Internationally Acclaimed Game Maestro™ Brian Train

The Second War of 1812
or
"Once More With Feeling"

(originally published in Strategist, volume XXVI number 4 issue 289, April 1996)

In the United States, exuberant 110th-anniversary celebrations of battles such as the Battle of New Orleans of 1815 and the Battle of Baltimore of 1814 produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against Britain, culminating in a drunken lurch down the road to war with the Dominion of Canada in 1925.

The Rules

1.0 Introduction
Hi there.

2.0 Components
The game consists of two cards, one representing the American invaders (YankForce) and the other the Canadian defenders (CanuckBlock).
Players will need one n-sided die to play the game.

3.0 Sequence of Play
The game is one turn long and consists of three phases:

3.1 Movement Phase
3.2 Combat Phase
3.3 Victory Determination Phase

4.0 Movement
Place the CanuckBlock card face up on a table between the two players.
Place the YankForce card next to it.

5.0 Combat
Combat is conducted by the YankForce player rolling the die and matching the results on the following CRT:
1 to n-1 = Canuckblock eliminated
n = roll die again

6.0 Victory Determination
The YankForce player wins if the CanuckBlock card has been eliminated during the Combat Phase. The CanuckBlock player wins if the YankForce player fails to win, e.g., if he rolls n+1; or if lightning strikes and turns him into a pillar of salt; or he (in)advertently inhales the die and chokes.

7.0 Optional Rules
The CanuckBlock player can declare at the beginning of the Combat Phase that Prime Minister MacKenzie King is using his ouija board to predict the next die roll. If the prediction is correct, the YankForce player must buy him a drink before rolling again. If the prediction is wrong, the YankForce player wins a Sudden Death Victory.

Analysis
The probability of rolling an "n" on 1dn approaches 1, i.e., 100% certitude, as the value of "n" also approaches 1. Thus the most favourable and promising strategy for CanuckBlock would be to use a one-sided die.

So... anyone want to playtest this one?

By: Brant

Anniversary: War of 1812, Part 'More' of... we're almost done

The War of 1812: A Canadian’s Perspective

Two hundred years ago the United States and Great Britan, two countries that are now staunch friends and allies, went to war...and the British colony of Canada was caught in the middle of the conflict. Today, the War of 1812 is a minor footnote to history for most Americans, coming as it did between the epic conflicts that were the War of Independence and the American Civil War. The British also attach little importance the War of 1812, preferring, I think, to forget the reaffirmation of independence by their former colonies. In sharp contrast, the War of 1812 holds an important place in Canadian history. The war has been the subject of numerous Canadian books and films, and is marked by national historic sites and museum displays. It is often said that the Canadian national identity was born in 1917 on the bloody slopes of Vimy Ridge but, in fact, the seeds of Canadian nationalism were planted over a century earlier during the War of 1812 when an outnumbered force composed of Canadian militiamen and First Nations warriors leavened with a smattering of British redcoats turned back several invasion attempts by much larger forces of American troops.

A number of larger than life Canadian heroes emerged from the conflict. Major-General Isaac Brock defeated an American army at the Battle of Queenston Heights, but at the cost of his own life. The great Shawnee chief Tecumsah united the First Nations tribes in a mighty confederacy that was later shattered by his death at the Battle of the Thames. The homesteader Laura Secord walked 20 miles over rough terrain to warn the British of an impending American attack, which allowed a small force of British regulars and Mohawk warriors to defeat an American force at the Battle of Beaver Dams. Reminders of Canada’s role in the War of 1812 abound today. Brock’s blood-stained tunic is proudly on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa; Parks Canada maintains key historic sites from the War of 1812, including Fort George National Historic Site, the Battle of Chateauguay National Historic Site, and Crysler’s Farm Battlefield, that attract large numbers of Canadians and foreign tourists; and Laura Secord has been immortalized in song and by the signature chocolates produced by the Canadian candy and ice cream manufacturer that was named in her honour.

It matters little to us that British troops burned the White House but were later defeated by General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Ask any Canadian who won the War of 1812 and the answer almost certainly will be “We did!” Former US President Thomas Jefferson without doubt missed the mark when he famously asserted that annexing Canada would be “a mere matter of marching”. Even though the eventual peace treaty between the United States and Great Britain maintained the status quo, the arguably mythic Canadian belief that our outnumbered citizen soldiers triumphed over a foreign invader is an important part of our national identity.


By: Shelldrake

Anniversary: War of 1812, Part 2 of... more than 2

Today's wry note is from Internationally Acclaimed Game Maestro™ Brian Train

The Canadian government announced in late 2011 that it would be spending $28 million over the next four years to commemorate the War. There will be funding for re-enactments of battles (e.g. Fort George and Queenston Heights) and significant events (e.g. the burial of Sir Isaac Brock, the journey of Laura Secord, the occupation and burning of Newark), as well as commemorative events, restorations or improvements to 40 historical sites in the Niagara Peninsula, an educational campaign and of course, websites (e.g. www.eighteentwelve.ca).

The irony of spending this amount of money on bicentennial celebrations of the start of the War (normally, don’t we commemorate the ends of wars?) has not gone unnoticed, when recent “austerity” budgets by the current neoconservative government have cut funding for the national library and archives, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Statistics Canada, research councils that fund historical inquiry, Parks Canada, and the development of Canadian Studies programs in countries outside Canada.

October 2012 will be declared a national month of commemoration for the war, capped somewhat later by the unveiling of a permanent monument to the War in a prominent position before the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. No word yet on whether the monument will be in the form of a triumphal arch, but the choice of site is curious – Ottawa did not exist in 1812 and is itself actually a byproduct of the War. It was originally called Bytown, named for Colonel John By, who in 1826 began construction of the Rideau Canal as a secure route between Montreal and Kingston on Lake Ontario, so bypassing the stretch of the St. Lawrence River that borders New York.

- Brian Train, 11 June 2012

By: Brant

Drones To Keep Watch Over Canadian Arctic?

This might be one way for Ottawa to justify purchasing a reduced number of F-35 stealth fighters.

The federal government [of Canada] is considering a proposal to buy at least three high-altitude, unmanned aerial vehicles in what could be an attempt to salvage its Arctic sovereignty ambitions.

The pitch was made by U.S. defence contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. and involves modifying its existing Global Hawk drone, which can operate at 20,000 metres, to meet the rigours of flying in the Far North.

Many of the Conservative government’s plans to establish a presence in the rapidly thawing region, including the construction of military icebreakers and the establishment of a deepwater port, are behind schedule.
The U.S. Air Force is considering selling some of its Global Hawks, which are still under construction, as part of military budget cuts.

“It’s a capability that matches a need here in Canada,” Dane Marolt, Northrop Grumman’s director of international business development. “The Arctic is an issue for Canada. It’s also an issue for the United States. Unless you know what’s going on there, you can’t take any action.”

He says any potential purchase would have to go through the Pentagon, but adds the proposal given to the Canadian government includes aircraft, ground stations, spares and in-service support.

By: Shelldrake

BUB: The "Pacific Pivot"

Lots of news these days about the US re-focusing its long-termstrategies toward the Pacific.


The US is refocusing, without trying to piss anyone off.

As the United States moves to bolster its military position in Asia, it faces severe budget cuts from Congress, an increasingly powerful rival in China and a hornet's nest of regional political sensitivities.
The shift in U.S. policy puts Asia and the Pacific front-and-center of its strategic priorities and is driven by concerns that China has raced ahead in the world's most economically dynamic region while the U.S. was tied up fighting its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But in a region rife with disputes and increasingly beholden to China's economic engine, the Pentagon is being careful its "pivot to the Pacific" doesn't create too many waves.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is spearheading the U.S. effort to sell the new strategy in Asia, told regional defense leaders at a major security conference in Singapore that it is only natural for the Asia-Pacific to be in the spotlight because it is home to some of the world's biggest populations and militaries.
Before moving on to Vietnam and India, Panetta said Washington will "of necessity" rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region and vowed 60 percent of the Navy's fleet will be deployed to the Pacific by 2020. He said the U.S. presence will be more agile, flexible and high-tech. Troops may increase overall, but no major influx is expected.

And that new strategy includes significant naval investments, including the new DDG-1000 series of ships.

A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. navy's China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic "railguns" right out of a sci-fi movie.
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet. One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.
With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon as the most advanced destroyer in history — a silver bullet of stealth. It has been called a perfect fit for what Washington now considers the most strategically important region in the world — Asia and the Pacific.

Some of the particulars mentioned in the article are pretty impressive.

The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake, electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles. They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers — but will have half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.
Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.

Even the Canadians are getting into the act, with a Singapore-based logistics hub on the table.

Singapore said it was studying a proposal from Canada to set up a logistics facility in the city-state for disaster relief efforts, reportedly to support a US military shift to Asia.
Canadian Defence Minister Peter Gordon MacKay said in an interview with The Canadian Press that the proposal was part of Ottawa's efforts to back up the US military "pivot" towards the Asia-Pacific region, which has irked China.
"The Canadians have proposed setting up a logistics support hub in Singapore for their regional humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts," a spokesman for the Singapore foreign ministry told AFP on Sunday.

By: Brant

Inaugural Meeting of North American Defence Ministers Joint Statement

Hot off the Pentagon newswire, here's the Joint Statement from the inaugural meeting of North American Defence Ministers . OK, it's not that hot. It was yesterday.

The Honorable Peter MacKay, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, the Honorable Leon E. Panetta, U.S. Secretary of Defense, General Guillermo Galván Galván, Mexican Secretary of National Defence, and Admiral Mariano Francisco Saynez Mendoza, Mexican Secretary of the Navy, met today in Ottawa for the inaugural trilateral meeting of North American Defence Ministers. The Ministers issued the following statement on their meeting:

“By virtue of our geography, our peoples, and our trading relationship, our three nations share many defense interests. Threats to North America and the hemisphere are increasingly complex and require non-traditional responses. Building upon the trilateral collaboration under the North American Leaders Summit process, we share a determination to enhance our common understanding of those threats and of the approaches needed to address them.

“Our countries are committed to working together to address challenges in the region. We know that transnational threats require transnational responses. With this in mind, we have agreed to enhance our cooperation to support efforts to counter transnational criminal organizations and to respond to natural disasters in the hemisphere.

“Our meeting today has established the framework necessary to build North America’s resilience by pursuing a practical agenda built on sustained trilateral cooperation on issues related to defense. As part of our initial work plan, we intend to:

Develop a joint trilateral defense threat assessment for North America to deepen our common understanding of the threats and challenges we face.
Explore ways to improve our support to the efforts of civilian public security agencies in countering illicit activities in our respective countries and the hemisphere, such as narcotics trafficking.
Explore how we can collaborate to increase the speed and efficiency with which our armed forces support civilian-led responses to disasters.
Continue to work together to strengthen hemispheric defence forums.
“We have agreed to meet on a regular basis in order to build on today’s historic meeting and continue our cooperation in addressing shared continental threats.

“We will pursue this trilateral agenda respectful of national sovereignty and in coordination with other agencies in our respective governments. The results of our meeting will be conveyed to our respective leaders in advance of the upcoming North American Leaders Summit.”

By: Brant

UK In Action: Hiatus

Our resident Limey is "on operations" at the moment, and may not get a chance to get the UK In Action series updated for a little while. Right now we're more focused on his safe return. In the meantime, maybe we can all lean on Shelldrake to give us some good Canadian action photos?

By: Brant

Canadian Navy Makes Cameo Appearance in Video Game

There's a new video game coming out about naval warfare in the Arctic. And there's even a token Canadian warship!

The game, Naval War: Arctic Circle, is set in the Arctic in the year 2030. The world at odds over Arctic sovereignty and resources.

"You would be the admiral of the armed forces of your side of whatever conflict," said Norwegian developer Jan Haugland.

Over the internet, players would lead Russian or NATO forces in battle. The playing field is 36,000 kilometres of ice-free Arctic waters.

The game depicts real ships — one of which is HMCS Halifax.

The frigate has patrolled waters off the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The Royal Canadian Navy says it’s one of the most capable frigates in the world with powerful weapons and highly trained staff on board.

HMCS Halifax is the only Canadian vessel fighting the make-believe war.

The game also features fake news articles about escalating international tensions around the Arctic.

Here are the details about the game from Paradox Interactive's website.

Naval War: Arctic Circle is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game where the player battles enemy naval and aerial forces for power and ultimate world domination. The game play takes place along the Norwegian and British coast, through Iceland and Greenland all the way to the North Americas and the North West Passage.

Naval War: Arctic Circle has an extensive campaign along with skirmish, LAN and on-line modes. In Arctic Circle, the factions includes the United States, the Russian federation, the Nordic countries and NATO. Ultimately, Naval War: Arctic Circle tells a story about a power struggle for control of the world’s resources and supply lines in the Polar Regions.

h/t MIGMaster

By: Brant

Monday Video: Canada on the Front Lines

With a Canuck-flavored BANG, get your Monday started right. And yes, those are tanks in the video.



By: Brant

(don't forget to nominate your own videos for Mondays...)

Canadian Frigate To Remain In The Med

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Vancouver, originally deployed as part of Operation Unified Protector, will remain in the Mediterranean until early 2012, when she will be relieved by HMCS Charlottetown. HMCS Vancouver and her CH-124 Sea King Helicopter detachment have been in the Mediterranean Sea since August, when she joined the NATO fleet off Libya as part of Operation Unified Protector.

By: Shelldrake

Hero-class Canadian Coast Guard Ship Named For VC Winner

One of nine Hero-class patrol vessels, the CCGS Private Robertson V.C. was recently unveiled in Halifax.

IN NOVEMBER 1917, Peter Robertson was like many young Canadian men of his era, in the thick of it on a battlefield in Europe, entangled in a bloody months-long campaign of the First World War forever remembered as Passchendaele.

Also like many men of his era, the private from Pictou County lost his life in the war but not before engaging in many acts of bravery, including rushing ahead of his platoon to single-handedly capture a German machine gun and turn it on his enemy combatants, who fled from his attack.

Later, he emerged from a trench to save two wounded Canadian snipers. He was killed while rescuing the second man.

For his heroism, the man who preferred to go by Pete received the Victoria Cross, presented to his grieving mother the following April.

Some 94 years after his death, Pte. Robertson was remembered again for his sacrifice in a ceremony to announce that the first of nine new Hero-class Canadian Coast Guard vessels being built at Halifax Shipyard will bear his name.

The announcement was made Wednesday by federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield and Defence Minister Peter MacKay in the shadow of three mid-shore patrol vessels being built at the Irving-owned yard.

MacKay noted that announcing the name —CCGS Pte. Robertson VC — was particularly apt leading up to Remembrance Day.

By: Shelldrake

Arctic Communications A Problem For Canadian F-35s

The Conservative government is telling Canadians that F-35s are needed to defend the Arctic but, at least at first, pilots will be on their own without communications capability in the far North.

Canada's new multibillion-dollar stealth fighters are expected to arrive without the built-in capacity to communicate from the country's most northerly regions — a gap the air force is trying to close.

A series of briefings given to the country's top air force commander last year expressed concern that the F-35's radio and satellite communications gear may not be as capable as that of the current CF-18s, which recently went through an extensive modernization.

Military aircraft operating in the high Arctic rely almost exclusively on satellite communications, where a pilot's signal is beamed into space and bounced back down to a ground station.

The F-35 Lightning will eventually have the ability to communicate with satellites, but the software will not be available in the initial production run, said a senior Lockheed Martin official, who spoke on background.

It is expected to be added to the aircraft when production reaches its fourth phase in 2019, but that is not guaranteed because research is still underway.

By: Shelldrake

Canadian Forces Meets Recruiting Goals

With few exceptions, Canadian Forces recruiting officers are telling hopeful applicants "Sorry."

The Canadian Forces are accepting just over half the applications they normally would in a year, and unless the applicants have certain specific skills, they are being told to try again later.

Out of 100 categories of jobs or trades in the Forces, only 13 list current openings, including dentists, musicians and social workers.

The military normally recruits around 5,000 people in a year. This year, it expects to recruit only 2,800.

“For this year we have pretty much accomplished our raw numbers,” Lt.-Cmdr. Robert Bedard, a military recruiter, said Wednesday.

By: Shelldrake

Canada's Subs Beached

Canadian submariners are temporarily out of a job with the drydocking of the RCN's fleet of used submarines.

All four subs are now sidelined because of over-budget and delayed refits, damage from running aground, or in the case of HMCS Chicoutimi, a fire that gutted the sub's interior.

The benching of all of the navy's subs marks the first time since the mid-1960s that Canada's Maritime forces are without a working submarine.

MP Peter Stoffer said the deal to buy four used British subs has been a disaster and leaves a hole in Canada's security.

"When somebody kicked the tires on these subs, they missed a lot," said Stoffer. "If the bad guy knows we don't have any submarines in our waters, then polluting, drug smuggling, illegal immigrants, overfishing, all these things can happen if we don't have a so-called silent deterrent out there."

Since the first Victoria class sub arrived in 2000, the program has been plagued with problems. Dents in the hull, cracked valves and a deadly fire have haunted the fleet and now once again questions about the crippled subs have surfaced in parliament.

On Friday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay defended the submarines in the House of Commons.

"No one would deny there have been challenges with respect to these submarines, which were purchased by the previous government. In fact, Mr. Speaker, submarines bring an important credibility and important capablity to the Royal Canadian Navy," said MacKay.

The government bought the British submarines on the navy's recommendation. The navy is defending the billion dollar plus submarine program saying the boats are vital to the defence of Canada even though none at the moment are capable of firing torpedoes, submerging or even venturing out to sea.

By: Shelldrake

New Counterterrorism Network Founded

The purpose of the Global Counterterrorism Forum is to identify urgent global needs in counterterrorism, devise solutions, and mobilize the resources needed to implement those solutions.

The new group will become "a counterterrorism network that is as nimble and adaptive as our adversaries," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the inaugural meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum.

"Let us pledge to learn as much as we can from one another."

Canada is a founding member of the group, whose 30 members include Britain, China, the European Union, Japan, Australia, developing countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as leading Muslim nations including Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The U.S. and Turkey will co-chair the group.

By: Shelldrake

UK In Action: TESEX at BATUS

A Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank is pictured on exercise with the Army in Canada. Units from 12 Mechanized Brigade have been training at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) on the prairies of Canada for the past three months in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan in early 2012. The exercise includes a live fire stage featuring multi-purpose machine guns, heavy artillery AS90 guns, Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles, before switching to a Tactical Engagement Simulator Exercise (TESEX), which involves no live ammunition and aims to further develop the skills learnt during the live fire stage in a safe environment. The soldiers use the state-of-the-art computer-backed system where their weapons and vehicles are fitted with the laser-quest-style system to record every detail of an attack, showing simulated injuries from gunfire, shrapnel or mortar attack during a mission.

A Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle thunders across the prairies of Canada during a training exercise. Units from 12 Mechanized Brigade have been training at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) on the prairies of Canada for the past three months in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan in early 2012. The exercise includes a live fire stage featuring multi-purpose machine guns, heavy artillery AS90 guns, Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles, before switching to a Tactical Engagement Simulator Exercise (TESEX), which involves no live ammunition and aims to further develop the skills learnt during the live fire stage in a safe environment. The soldiers use the state-of-the-art computer-backed system where their weapons and vehicles are fitted with the laser-quest-style system to record every detail of an attack, showing simulated injuries from gunfire, shrapnel or mortar attack during a mission.

A soldier with the 12th Mechanized Brigade is pictured during an exercise at the British Army Training Suffield facility (BATUS) in Canada. Units from 12 Mechanized Brigade have been training at BATUS on the prairies of Canada for the past three months in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan in early 2012. The exercise includes a live fire stage featuring multi-purpose machine guns, heavy artillery AS90 guns, Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles, before switching to a Tactical Engagement Simulator Exercise (TESEX), which involves no live ammunition and aims to further develop the skills learnt during the live fire stage in a safe environment. The soldiers use the state-of-the-art computer-backed system where their weapons and vehicles are fitted with the laser-quest-style system to record every detail of an attack, showing simulated injuries from gunfire, shrapnel or mortar attack during a mission.

img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

Hockey Team Looks to RCAF for Uniform Inspiration

The newly-revived Winnipeg Jets have new jerseys that nicely evoke the Royal Canadian Air Force.

article excerpt after the jump...

Royal Again After Over 40 Years!

Once again, Canada will have a Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. Sounds a lot better than Maritime Command and Air Command, eh?

A royal name change for Canada's navy and air force will be announced Tuesday, and the army will also be renamed, in a move that taps Canada's military heritage.

The Maritime Command and Air Command will again be known as the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force, while the Land Force Command will be renamed the Canadian Army.

The name changes will be officially announced Tuesday by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, and events marking the transition are scheduled to take place simultaneously across the country.

According to a Canadian Forces document obtained by CBC News on Monday, the move restores the historic names of the three branches of the Forces, and the initiative is being billed as "an important and recognizable part of Canada's military heritage."

"These were the services that fought and emerged victorious from the Second World War and Korea and contributed to the defence of Europe and North America from the early days of the Cold War. These were also the services that paved the way in terms of international peacekeeping missions," says the note, which appears to have been sent to Canadian Forces members.

The branches were renamed in 1968 when they were unified under one central command named the Canadian Armed Forces. That unified command is expected to remain in place when the old names are restored.

By: Shelldrake