Canada will soon increase its contribution in military equipment to a NATO mission deployed in Eastern Europe.
National Defense Minister Bill Blair announced Friday morning that four Canadian Griffon helicopters will be sent to Latvia next year as part of a NATO deterrence mission.
Canada will also periodically send Chinook helicopters starting in the fall of 2025.
National Defense release notes this is the first time Canada has permanently deployed tactical aviation capabilities in Europe since operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in the late 1990s and early 2000s .
Canada also finalized the acquisition of man-portable anti-armor missile systems, including missiles, simulators and related support, for Canadian forces in Latvia. Canada has awarded the contract for a portable anti-X missile system (MAXP) worth US$32.2 million to the company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The first of these systems is expected to arrive by the middle of next year.
Minister Blair also noted that as announced last July, a squadron of 15 Leopard 2A4M tanks from the Canadian Armed Forces, along with personnel and support equipment, recently arrived in Latvia as part of the REINSURANCE operation. The full complement of approximately 130 people is expected to be on site by spring 2024.
In Friday’s announcements, Minister Blair was flanked by the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Wayne Eyre. They were visiting Canadian troops stationed at Camp Adazi located just outside Riga, the capital of Latvia, where Canada leads a NATO battle group.
The number of Canadian troops in the Baltic country is expected to double to around 2,200 by 2026, as NATO expands its battle groups in the region into brigades.
Latvia shares a border of some 270 kilometers with Russia and another, shorter one, with Belarus, a country allied to Russia.