The military will flex its muscles in Kananaskis Country as early as next week, getting ready to shoot down any aircraft that wanders into restricted airspace during the G-8 summit.
The Canadian army and air force are carrying out final live-fire exercises at Canadian Forces Base Suffield, north of Medicine Hat, this week in preparation for the summit of world leaders to be held in Kananaskis June 26 and 27.
More than 150 soldiers from Four Air Defence Regiment based in Gagetown and Moncton, N.B., are taking part in the exercises, operating massive ADATS (Air Defence Anti-Tank System) vehicles armed with surface-to-air missiles capable of taking out an airplane up to 10 kilometres away.
Once the exercises are complete, the military buildup will begin in K-Country, with convoys of Armed Forces equipment and soldiers heading west for the summit for Joint Task Force Grizzly, an operation expected to be the largest domestic army operation in Canadian history.
Thousands of soldiers from the light infantry garrison in Edmonton will also converge on the mountainous region west of Calgary, turning Alberta's great outdoors into a high-security, patrolled exclusion zone the likes of which has never been seen in this country.
"Since Sept. 11, we have all had to look at things differently," said Col. Mike McLean of the First Canadian Air Division based in Winnipeg.
"What happened in New York surprised us all. We want to make sure that in Kananaskis, we are not surprised."
The threat from the air is being taken extremely seriously, with security officials preparing for numerous worst-case scenarios, including makeshift attacks from parachuting guerrillas, crop-dusting planes, light aircraft and even hijacked commercial jets.
An 150-kilometre perimeter will be enforced above Kananaskis from June 25 to 28.
The airspace closure will affect airports and heliports in Banff, Black Diamond, Cochrane, Clearwater, Didsbury, Elk Valley, Golden, Invermere, Fairmont Hot Springs, Kananaskis, Springbank, Sundre and Turner Valley.
Calgary International Airport will remain open, but travellers should expect delays.
The airspace will be patrolled by Canadian Forces CF-18 fighter jets and monitored by radar aboard the high-tech ADATS vehicles. It will be the first time the $15-million vehicles have been deployed in Canada.
Commanders of the vehicles will have orders to shoot to kill if necessary. Planes that wander into the restricted airspace will first be tracked, identified and warned -- and, as a last resort, shot down.
"Our role is pretty simple: to prevent the enemy from entering from the air using our ground operation," said Lt.-Col. Michel Lavoie, commanding officer of Four Air Defence Regiment.
"We will detect, track and identify the target and, lastly, if we need to, destroy the target. We are the last resort. We will do everything possible to tell the person to go home, but at the end of the day, we are there to do it."
Just how many ADATS vehicles will be deployed in Kananaskis is a closely guarded secret. Canada has 34 of the machines, bought in 1986 and initially used to patrol German airfields during the Cold War.
Each machine is operated by three soldiers and can carry eight surface-to-air missiles capable of reaching Mach 3 speeds -- covering 2.5 kilometres in just 3.2 seconds. The missiles are smokeless, difficult to detect and almost impossible to jam.
McLean said the ADATS vehicles are necessary in the difficult, mountainous terrain of Kananaskis Country, about 100 kilometres west of Calgary.
"You can imagine the difficulty of an CF-18 jet screaming through those valleys trying to chase someone down. With these vehicles, you have a defence system that can react spontaneously," he said.
The army and air force will not deal with protesters -- that will be the responsibility of Mounties running the G-8 security operation. The military will provide key telecommunications and transportation support, as well as land and air defences.
Terrorists, not ski-mask-wearing activists, will be the focus of the military operation. Lavoie is confident Kananaskis will be safe, even if terrorists attack the summit from the air.
"We have been told ahead of time that we would be involved, so we are prepared. It is like NHL hockey. Our season of preparation ran from January to May. June is playoff time.
"The G-8 summit is the Stanley Cup. We're ready," he said.
"In my view, we have one of the best missile systems in the world. And we will have it at G-8."
McLean said the threat of terrorism, and particularly air attacks, during the summit can't be taken lightly. He dismissed suggestions that Joint Task Force Grizzly is overkill, and said the military has to be prepared for anything, particularly in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
"It doesn't take much imagination to remember back to Sept. 11. Again, that's a worst-case scenario, but we have to be prepared for the worst."
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