RCAF Wants More Than 1,200 Security Personnel to Protect F-35s, Other Planes

RCAF Wants More Than 1,200 Security Personnel to Protect F-35s, Other Planes
An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practices for an air show appearance in Ottawa, on Sept. 6, 2019. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
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The Royal Canadian Air Force wants to hire more than a thousand new security personnel over the next five years at bases across the country—just as it brings its new F-35 stealth fighter jets into service.

Internal documents from spring 2025, obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access-to-Information law, show the Air Force drafted a plan to first hire 199 new security personnel by 2028, then expand that security force to 747 in 2029 and 1,227 by 2030.