Mayor Copeland talks future relationship and upgrades with 4 Wing

While discussing the new Wing Commander Col. Dave Moar, Copeland talked about some of the changes at 4 Wing that could be overseen during his tenure.

Mayor Craig Copeland discussed some of the long-term changes to 4 Wing air base on the Morning After on Friday.

He talked about the relationship with Col. Paul Doyle and how the City and 4 Wing work together on common projects, and how the federal government’s military spending could mean upgrades for 4 Wing in a few years time.

“It’s pretty much public knowledge that the Air Weapons Range itself is going to do a big modernization package. It hasn’t had the latest and greatest stuff on the Air Weapons Range, so that’s going to go to upgrade all across Canada,” said Copeland.

“All the hangars are designed from the 1950’s and 1960s, so now with the modern aircraft, it’s almost going to be almost a dedicated hangar per plane. We think by about 2022, you’re going to see a lot of major investment on the wing. Reports are as much as half a billion dollars invested out there on the tarmac and new hangars. I think the future looks bright. If we ever get pipelines going in this country and you get the upgrade on the base with the new fighter jet, I think things could really pick up,” he said.

“The new fighter jet is really the big one. We desperately neeed a new fighter jet. So whoever wins this election in the fall, we need to get the base a brand new plane. The service people who’ve kept that F-18 up in the air for all these years, its incredible work…the skill level we have out here, we should be proud of our military. We’re going to work with Colonel Moar and keep the agenda moving forward.”