Canadian Forces base

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A Canadian Forces Base or CFB (French Base des forces canadiennes or BFC) refers to a military installation of the Canadian Forces. For a facility to qualify as a Canadian Forces Base, it must station one or more major units (eg. army regiments, navy ships, air force wings).

Minor installations are named Canadian Forces Station or CFS (French Station des forces canadiennes or SFC). A Canadian Forces Station could host a single minor unit (eg. an early warning radar station). Many of these facilities are now decommissioned for administrative purposes and function as detachments of a larger Canadian Forces Base nearby.

Contents

[edit] Current

[edit] Army

[edit] Navy

[edit] Air force

Note: Primary lodger units at air force bases are wings.

Air Command and CF Northern Area also maintain a chain of Forward Operating Locations at various points across northern Canada, capable of supporting fighter operations. Elements of CF-18 squadrons periodically deploy to these FOLs for short training exercises or Arctic sovereignty patrols.

[edit] All services

[edit] Closed

[edit] Former active bases

[edit] Former active stations

The Canadian Forces were reduced during the 1990s from a high of 90,000 personnel in the late 1980s to the present force levels. Coinciding with personnel and equipment reductions was the politically-controversial decision to close a number of bases and stations which were obsolete or created duplication.

A small number of these "closed" facilities have actually continued operating as before; however for reasons of cost and administrative efficiency (or in the case of radio and radar facilities - automation) they have been absorbed into other nearby bases and therefore do not qualify for a separate designation. For example, the CF Leadership and Recruit School at St. Jean, Quebec, is now a lodger unit of CFB Montreal, and the former CFS Masset is a detachment of CFS Leitrim. Other facilities are now used as training grounds for reserve/militia units.

[edit] See also