Photo: CPL BRENDAN GAMACHE
Missile rearmament highlights CAF logistical reach in the Indo-Pacific
By Lt(N) Patricia Summers
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) demonstrated its ability to project logistical support into the Indo-Pacific with a forward Harpoon missile rearmament of a Halifax-class frigate this past summer.
The rearmament took place on HMCS Ville de Québec during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2025 as part of a live-fire exercise off the coast of Australia, over 16,000 kilometers away from the ship’s home port of Halifax. Such extreme distances drive the need for forward rearmament capabilities. This is especially true in the Indo-Pacific region where the CAF does not have extensive joint logistics support like it has in the Euro-Atlantic region with NATO.
Forward rearmaments are generally conducted by airlifting ammunition to a third location for storage to await the arrival of a ship. Historically, in the Indo-Pacific region, rearmaments have happened almost exclusively in Hawaii immediately following the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). However, with Canada’s renewed emphasis on security and freedom of movement across the Indo-Pacific region, there is a necessity for rearmament operations to be conducted in new locations.
Such operations demonstrate the CAF’s ability to shorten strategic lines of communication and provide efficient logistic support for distant missions, especially in cases of highly specialized commodities like ammunition.
The rearmament was conducted by the Canadian Material Support Group in coordination with the Canadian Joint Operations Command and the Australian Defence Force (ADF). This operation displayed the CAF’s interoperability with the ADF and reinforced our commitment to working with allies in the region.
Forward rearmaments have become the norm for Canadian ships deployed to the Indo-Pacific in recent years and are expected to remain so into the foreseeable future.
