Canadian gunners have new weapon
At $150,000 a shot the Canadian Army have a new form of artillery
“The question of whether the Excalibur has been led astray by sophisticated interference technology was something both the army and defence industry officials were reluctant to address.” From a Canadian Press Report.
Excalibur is a name given to GPS-satellite controlled artillery shells. The shells cost $150,000 each and are about to become the latest high-tech tool in Canada's fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
From the CP report:
“Supporters argue that the weapon, which has the ability to correct itself in flight, has pinpoint accuracy. They predict that will cut down on the mounting civilian death toll from air strikes in a war-torn region, where insurgents often hide among the population.”
So, if the insurgents are hiding amongst the civilians, then the shell can pick them out and selectively blow them up? Who knew technology had become so advanced. And what about this “mounting death toll?” How many civilians have conventional Canadian artillery rounds killed? I guess our Afghan rebuilding efforts will be helped by having more accurate destruction of bodies and property.
There are questions that our military and government don't answer. The public can barely get the government to acknowledge how much money Canada has spent on military-security since 9-11. A CBC calculation put this amount at $24.1 billion, which naturally begs the question of why we need our public broadcaster crunching numbers that should be readily available to every interested citizen in the country. I wonder, given the expensive nature of the Excalibur shells, how many artillery rounds the Canadian military has used in the past year, while the Afghan casualties have been mounting.
Shit, forget about accessing that information. The Canadian military does not give out those numbers, for security reasons. Oddly, the British Army, operating in an equally volatile area of Afghanistan, Helmund Province, has provided their public with the numbers. In the span of less than a year, the Brits fired off two million rifle bullets, 1.83 million machine gun bullets and 25,000 artillery rounds. Even the US military has disclosed the numbers of rounds fired by their military, but not Canada. That's privileged information, too security sensitive for the likes of the lowly public. When an un-named Canadian Defense official was asked how releasing those numbers would compromise operational security, there was no answer beyond the standard line that such information could compromise the operational security. Welcome to military intelligence.
I usually don't like slamming our soldiers for doing their jobs. They aren't policy makers, after all. Soldiers do what they're told. That's how they're trained. So when the politicians and military bureaucrats tell them to not release any operational info to the media, that's what they do, whether they personally think otherwise or not. This is tempered by the fact that there probably aren't many soldiers in Afghanistan who would argue against using more accurate artillery shells, like the Excalibur. After all, any life saved is worth the expenditure, right?
Call me insane, or so far out in left field that I don't belong in the game, but I'm of the opinion that maybe we shouldn't be firing artillery rounds at anyone. If Canada wants to fight the Taliban, then they should be doing so face-to-face, gun-to- gun, instead of trying to kill The Enemy from 40 kilometers away with explosives. And, as the opening quote says, there is a double edge to using advanced weapons technology. Hackers are generally ahead of the curve in tech circles. Can you imagine firing an artillery round and not being sure where it's going to land because the same technology that makes the Excalibur so expensive and accurate, also creates an automatic counter-measure? Could a compromised guidance system for the Excalibur actually allow the Taliban to set themselves up as targets, then manipulate the incoming fire so that it lands on civilians? If the government and military won't even release how many rounds of publicly funded rifle ammunition have been used, then how can we expect any sort of answer to how the $150,000 shells are going to be used, when and why.
Remember that all this secrecy and military investment is taking place with the Conservative Party in power. This is the very same party, and leader, who pledged open-ness and accountability when they took power. Just don't ask for any details.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
“The question of whether the Excalibur has been led astray by sophisticated interference technology was something both the army and defence industry officials were reluctant to address.” From a Canadian Press Report.
Excalibur is a name given to GPS-satellite controlled artillery shells. The shells cost $150,000 each and are about to become the latest high-tech tool in Canada's fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
From the CP report:
“Supporters argue that the weapon, which has the ability to correct itself in flight, has pinpoint accuracy. They predict that will cut down on the mounting civilian death toll from air strikes in a war-torn region, where insurgents often hide among the population.”
So, if the insurgents are hiding amongst the civilians, then the shell can pick them out and selectively blow them up? Who knew technology had become so advanced. And what about this “mounting death toll?” How many civilians have conventional Canadian artillery rounds killed? I guess our Afghan rebuilding efforts will be helped by having more accurate destruction of bodies and property.
There are questions that our military and government don't answer. The public can barely get the government to acknowledge how much money Canada has spent on military-security since 9-11. A CBC calculation put this amount at $24.1 billion, which naturally begs the question of why we need our public broadcaster crunching numbers that should be readily available to every interested citizen in the country. I wonder, given the expensive nature of the Excalibur shells, how many artillery rounds the Canadian military has used in the past year, while the Afghan casualties have been mounting.
Shit, forget about accessing that information. The Canadian military does not give out those numbers, for security reasons. Oddly, the British Army, operating in an equally volatile area of Afghanistan, Helmund Province, has provided their public with the numbers. In the span of less than a year, the Brits fired off two million rifle bullets, 1.83 million machine gun bullets and 25,000 artillery rounds. Even the US military has disclosed the numbers of rounds fired by their military, but not Canada. That's privileged information, too security sensitive for the likes of the lowly public. When an un-named Canadian Defense official was asked how releasing those numbers would compromise operational security, there was no answer beyond the standard line that such information could compromise the operational security. Welcome to military intelligence.
I usually don't like slamming our soldiers for doing their jobs. They aren't policy makers, after all. Soldiers do what they're told. That's how they're trained. So when the politicians and military bureaucrats tell them to not release any operational info to the media, that's what they do, whether they personally think otherwise or not. This is tempered by the fact that there probably aren't many soldiers in Afghanistan who would argue against using more accurate artillery shells, like the Excalibur. After all, any life saved is worth the expenditure, right?
Call me insane, or so far out in left field that I don't belong in the game, but I'm of the opinion that maybe we shouldn't be firing artillery rounds at anyone. If Canada wants to fight the Taliban, then they should be doing so face-to-face, gun-to- gun, instead of trying to kill The Enemy from 40 kilometers away with explosives. And, as the opening quote says, there is a double edge to using advanced weapons technology. Hackers are generally ahead of the curve in tech circles. Can you imagine firing an artillery round and not being sure where it's going to land because the same technology that makes the Excalibur so expensive and accurate, also creates an automatic counter-measure? Could a compromised guidance system for the Excalibur actually allow the Taliban to set themselves up as targets, then manipulate the incoming fire so that it lands on civilians? If the government and military won't even release how many rounds of publicly funded rifle ammunition have been used, then how can we expect any sort of answer to how the $150,000 shells are going to be used, when and why.
Remember that all this secrecy and military investment is taking place with the Conservative Party in power. This is the very same party, and leader, who pledged open-ness and accountability when they took power. Just don't ask for any details.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
