Photo: A Black Hawk helicopter on display at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa. Photo: Le Droit, Patrick Duquette/Le Droit, Patrick Duquette.
CBC reports: “With U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration just days away, the federal government announced it is sending [60 new] drones and two leased Black Hawk helicopters to the shared border to begin beefed-up patrols. …Deputy Commissioner Bryan Larkin said the RCMP leased two Black Hawks from an aviation company, and they will be in use starting Friday for enhanced surveillance.”
Global News adds: “The RCMP confirmed that two of the Black Hawk models will be operational as soon as Friday [January 17].”
Vertical Magazine further notes: “The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it has procured two Black Hawks on lease from Helicopter Transport Services in Ottawa, Ont., the nation’s capital. They will join nine existing helicopters in the RCMP fleet…”
It’s unclear if the RCMP intends to eventually buy Black Hawk helicopters.
Last year, The Rio Times reported: “In the U.S., the Army intends to retire 51 Black Hawks by 2025 to make room for newer models. Programs like Foreign Military Sales and Excess Defense Articles will sell these helicopters, each valued at approximately $2 million.”
About the Black Hawk helicopter
The Lockheed Martin website says: “When the mission is on the line, there’s one helicopter that’s consistently called upon to deliver. The rugged, versatile BLACK HAWK and its family of variants are trusted around the world for critical missions from air assault to emergency response. Sikorsky has built more than 5,000 HAWK aircraft for 36 nations worldwide.”
Lockheed Martin further boasts: “Carries up to 12 troops and their gear – or 9,000 pounds of supplies and ammo – into contested environments for rapid deployment.”
Lockheed Martin bought Sikorsky Aircraft, the builder of the Black Hawk helicopter, in November 2015.
Lockheed Martin and the genocide in Palestine
JFeed has reported: “The Israeli Air Force has extensively used Black Hawk helicopters, locally designated as ‘Yanshuf’ (Hebrew for ‘owl’), since the 1990s. These aircraft have played critical roles in numerous operations, including rescue missions, deployment of special forces, border patrol and disaster relief efforts.”
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has also noted: “The world’s largest weapons manufacturer, Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has been using extensively to bomb Gaza.”
The AFSC adds that Israel has deployed against Palestinians Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transport planes, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, Hellfire R9X missiles (“a version of the Hellfire that was developed by the CIA for carrying out assassinations”), the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopters (manufactured by its subsidiary Sikorsky).
In February 2024, thirteen United Nations Special Rapporteurs, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, stated that “any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.”
The UN Special Rapporteurs also notes: “Arms companies contributing to the production and transfer of arms to Israel and businesses investing in those companies bear their own responsibility to respect human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. They have not publicly demonstrated the heightened human rights due diligence required of them and accordingly risk complicity in violations.”
Lawlor has also written: “Palestinian human rights defenders have emphasized to me the importance of a ban being placed on such sales, given that Israel has demonstrated time and again that it will use such weapons indiscriminately against Palestinians.”
It is possible that more than 1,422 human rights defenders have been killed in Palestine over the last 15 months.
Helicopters and drones deployed against land defenders
The RCMP community-industry response group (C-IRG) has used helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and drones to surveil and arrest Indigenous land defenders.
As of February 2023, the RCMP have 35 aircraft, 9 helicopters and 26 fixed-wing aircraft. The helicopters were bought from Aerospatiale, Airbus and Eurocopter, while the fixed-wing aircraft were bought from Cessna, de Havilland, Pilatus and Quest.
The RCMP has also flown a FLIR SkyRanger R60 unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) over Wet’suwet’en territory just prior to its February 2020 raid.
On March 9, 2023, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) launched a systemic investigation into the RCMP C-IRG unit. As that investigation approaches the two-year point, the only Investigation Update was posted more than thirteen months ago on November 23, 2023.
We will be monitoring the use by the RCMP of its Black Hawk helicopters notably with respect to the human rights of migrants as well as their potential use against land defence struggles against extractivist megaprojects.
