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It is not surprising that, with Canada’s last, rusty destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan, retiring next spring, our navy will be without proper long-range naval air-defence or command-and-control capabilities for seven years or more. But it should be.

It is not surprising because Canada has had chronic problems replacing military hardware for decades. One problem is Ottawa’s unwillingness to spend properly on naval vessels, aircraft or guns and troop transports. But another is a lack of political will or capacity to manage or reform a broken procurement process. And another, the most serious, is growing public numbness to military unpreparedness and the complacent incompetence that produces it.

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We are no longer surprised, let alone angry, to hear politicians boast that they will plug a critical gap … by around 2025. But we should be. Canada acquired an entire navy in just six years between 1939 and 1945. It now routinely takes decades to buy equipment that is often ill-suited to a changed strategic or tactical environment by the time it arrives. Yes, military hardware is more sophisticated than it used to be. But so are design and manufacturing techniques. And with technology changing so fast, it is ever more dangerous to be equipped with outdated weapons and control systems, especially in inadequate numbers. Yet we increasingly take it for granted.