| CFB Cold Lake Cold Lake/Group Captain R.W. McNair Airport  | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Base des Forces canadiennes Cold Lake | |||||||||||
| Cold Lake, Alberta in Canada | |||||||||||
.jpg) ACF-18 Hornet of theRoyal Canadian Air Force at CFB Cold Lake | |||||||||||
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| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Canadian Forces base | ||||||||||
| Owner | Department of National Defence | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Canadian Air Force | ||||||||||
| Controlled by | 1 Canadian Air Division | ||||||||||
| Condition | Operational | ||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
  Cold Lake Location in Alberta Show map of Alberta Cold Lake Cold Lake (Canada) Show map of Canada | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 54°24′19″N110°16′56″W / 54.40528°N 110.28222°W /54.40528; -110.28222[1] | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1952 (1952) – 1954 | ||||||||||
| In use | 1954 – present | ||||||||||
| Events | Exercise Maple Flag | ||||||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||||||
| Current commander | Colonel Mark Hickey,MSM,CD | ||||||||||
| Garrison | 4 Wing | ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: YOD,ICAO: CYOD,WMO: 711200 | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 541 m (1,775 ft)AMSL | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Source: Canada Flight Supplement[1] | |||||||||||
Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake (IATA:YOD,ICAO:CYOD), abbreviated asCFB Cold Lake,[2] is aCanadian Forces Base in the City ofCold Lake, Alberta.[3]
The facility is operated as an air force base by theRoyal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of theCold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR), which is used as practicing grounds by CFB Cold Lake's fighter pilots. The base is one of two in the country housing theCF-18 Hornet fighter, the other beingCFB Bagotville. The base's primary RCAF lodger unit is 4 Wing, commonly referred to as4 Wing Cold Lake.[2]
Civilian passenger service was available through the Medley passenger terminal on the air base. The regularly scheduled air service between Calgary and the civilian terminal was cancelled in June 2011.[4] Unscheduled civilian air traffic is usually directed toCold Lake Regional Airport.
The facility is namedCold Lake/Group Captain R.W. McNair Airport after World War IISpitfire aceRobert Wendell "Buck" McNair. It is one of three militaryaerodromes in Canada to be named after an individual, along withValcartier (W/C J.H.L. (Joe) Lecomte) Heliport andMoose Jaw/Air Vice Marshal C.M. McEwen Airport.
The airport is classified as anairport of entry byNav Canada and is staffed by theCanada Border Services Agency; however, its use by international flights is currently restricted to military aircraft and personnel.[1]
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Construction of what would become known as RCAF Station Cold Lake began in 1952 at the height of theCold War after a nearby site in Alberta's "Lakeland District" was chosen by the RCAF for the country's premier air weapons training base. The chosen location for the base was west of the former Town ofGrand Centre (now part of the City of Cold Lake), and was based on factors such as low population density, accessibility, weather, suitable terrain, and nearby available land for air weapons training. Although the location of the range attempted to avoidFirst Nations reserves, it "encompassed traditional Aboriginal and treaty areas and the First Nations affected by the creation of the CLAWR were eventually compensated."[5]
Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954, with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day. The following year, the federal government signed an agreement with the provinces ofSaskatchewan and Alberta for use of a tract of land measuring 180 km by 65 km covering an area of 11,700 square kilometres. This became known as the CLAWR and is theraison d'être for the location of the base.[citation needed]
CLAWR is the northern equivalent[further explanation needed] to theUnited States Air Force's (USAF)Nellis Air Force Range[clarification needed] and provides a different training environment with heavyboreal forest and numerous lakes more closely resembling European terrain.[citation needed] It hosts over 640 actual targets and 100 realistic target complexes, including 7 simulated aerodromes with runways, tarmac, aircraft, dispersal areas and buildings, as well as mechanized military equipment such as tanks, simulated radar and missile launching sites, mock industrial sites, and command and control centres.
Operations in the 1950s and early 1960s centred around training crews destined for theCF-100 Canuck all-weather interceptor, which was in operational use in Canada andWestern Europe. From 1962 onwards, the arrival of theCF-104 Starfighter resulted in a change of task to the training pilots for Canada'sNATO commitment inWest Germany, which continued until the arrival of the CF-18 Hornet in 1982. Since then, the base has been the training focal point for this aircraft, in addition to operational squadrons being located here.
On February 1, 1968, the RCAF was merged with theRoyal Canadian Navy andCanadian Army to form the unifiedCanadian Forces. RCAF Station Cold Lake saw its name changed to CFB Cold Lake and became the responsibility ofAir Defence Command. ADC and several other CF commands transformed in 1975 to becomeAir Command (AIRCOM).
During the 1980s, CFB Cold Lake was thrust into the international media spotlight when CLAWR was used as the target for testing of the newly developedAGM-86 Tomahawkair-launched cruise missiles by the USAF. These missiles were launched from strategic bombers over theBeaufort Sea and travelled up theMackenzie River valley, closely following the terrain at elevations of several metres above ground level. The tests caused significant controversy among peace activists and localFirst Nations on the projected flight paths since the new untested weapons were considered a destabilizing force in the international arms race, potentially contributing to instability worldwide. TheFederal Court of Canada ruled in favour of allowing the tests to proceed in 1983 and the Canada–United States Test and Evaluation Program or CANUSTEP agreement was subsequently signed between both nations, allowing for the cruise missile tests to use Canadian airspace in theNorthwest Territories and Alberta en route to CLAWR.
In 1990, 18 sounding rockets were launched.[6]
In 1995, the United States Air Force's366th Air Base Wing,Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, deployed to CFB Cold Lake for the 366th's Operational Readiness Inspection exercise. The deployment lasted approximately 14 days and consisted of three fighter and numerous support squadrons airlifting enough logistics and personnel to CFB Cold Lake to simulate setting up a frontline combat air base and initiating combat operations.[citation needed]
In 2000/2001, several of the base's buildings were put on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings: Hangars 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and the Senior NCO's Building B-30.[7]
In 2007, the base was the setting forJetstream, a TV series depicting eight pilots training under the 410 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron to fly a CF-18.
On August 27, 2020, the Government of Canada awarded EllisDon, Edmonton, with the $9.2 million construction of new facilities to house the RCAF's future fighter.[8] The future fighter, to be housed at CFB Cold Lake andCFB Bagotville, will require facility upgrades before the first delivery of the fighter in 2025.[9]
As of 2023[update], CFB Cold Lake has the following units of 4 Wing stationed at the facility:[10]
It also hosts a number of other lodger units, including the Aerospace Engineering Testing Establishment, 4 Construction Engineering Squadron, 1 Military Police Squadron, Real Property Operations Detachment Cold Lake, 22 Health Services Centre, as well asAlpha Jets andA-4 Skyhawks operated by civilian contractorTop Aces.
In addition to its use as a training base, CFB Cold Lake's fighter/interceptor aircraft defend the western half of Canadian air space and together with aircraft from CFB Bagotville cover Canada's Arctic territory. They are operationally controlled byNORAD fromCFB North Bay andCheyenne Mountain Operations Center inColorado Springs. Cold Lake aircraft forward deploy to airfields throughout western and Arctic Canada as operational requirements dictate.
Cold Lake also hosts NATO flight training operating from15 Wing Moose Jaw, as well as5 Wing Goose Bay.Maple Flag is a major international air weapons training competition hosted annually by CFB Cold Lake in May–June, making use of CLAWR. The name is derived from the USAF'sRed Flag training exercises at theNellis Air Force Range inNevada.NASA andESA astronauts use Cold Lake for winter survival training.[11]
Cold Lake Cadet Training Centre (CLCTC) is at 4 Wing Cold Lake, held annually from June through August. The primary goal at CLCTC is the provision of a safe and challenging national summer training program. The Senior Leaders Course (SLC) moved to CFB Cold Lake in 1973.[12] From 1973 to 1987, SLC was the only course offered at Cold Lake until the Survival School (which hosts two courses: Survival Instructor and Basic Survival) relocated there in 1988. At that time the two schools existed separately with two separate commanding officers. By 1989, the two united under one commanding officer and became Cold Lake Cadet Camp (CLCC).[12] In 1993, the camp added a third school, the Cadet Service Band, which ran for one year as both a Band and SLC but has now become solely a band program. These three schools make up CLCTC.[12] The entire Cold Lake Cadet Training Centre has a staff of approximately 205 staff cadets, officers, civilian instructors, regular force, and civilian contract personnel, from all elements of the Cadet Program and from all regions of Canada.[12] The summer 2010 introduced an entirely new school to CLCTC: The Fitness School which also implemented the first Basic Fitness and Sports Course to CLCTC. The Basic Fitness and Sports is a three-week course that encourages physical fitness and teaches cadets to be fitness and sports advisors in their home squadrons/units/corps. After the summer of 2010, the single, national, Senior Leaders Course was discontinued in favour of the Leadership and Ceremonial Instructors Course to be offered in each region. The summer of 2011 introduced a new six week seniors course to the Fitness School; Fitness and Sports Instructor Course (FSIC). The new FSIC teaches cadets to be Fitness and Sports Instructors within their home squadrons/units/corps. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, CLCTC was not used during 2020, or 2021. Cadet Summer Training resumed in 2022,[13] with CLCTC hosting Fitness and Sports Instructor (FSI), Advanced Aviation (AA), Survival Instructor (SI), and Drill and Ceremonial Instructor (DCI), which is the successor to the original Senior Leaders Course (SLC) hosted at CLCTC between 1973 and 2010, bringing a Leadership and Drill course back to the CLCTC for the first time in 12 years.[14] Since 2024, CLCTC has only been running Introduction to Survival (ITS), Survival Instructor (SI), Advanced Aviation (AA), and Aviation Technology & Aerospace (ATA) courses.[15]
CFB Cold Lake sports a unit band that serves under the auspices of the 4 Wing of the RCAF. The band in its modern form was established in November 1982 after a resolution by theNational Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.[16] It performs public duties for the base as well as the city ofCold Lake and what was formerlyLakeland County.[17]
The following have served as bandmasters for the band:
Non-military use of the CLAWR has increased since the 1990s, and "will continue to grow as various sectors vie for access to airspace, land and resources (such as natural gas, commercial fishing, and logging) in and around the range".[5]Canadian Natural Resources's Primrose and Wolf Lakein situ oil sands project near Cold Lake use sahigh pressure cyclic steam stimulation andsteam-assisted gravity drainage extraction methods. Other producers, such asCenovus Energy, are also utilizing parts of the CLAWR.[18]
Indigenous groups frequent the traditional hunting grounds as part of the agreed usage with theDepartment of National Defence.[19]
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