Under cover, underwater: Special forces in Canada, U.S. eyeing mini-su

OTTAWA - Special forces in both Canada and the United States are taking a close look at Canadian-made mini-submarines for the murky world of covert operations.

The cutting-edge subs, some of which are built in Canada, are seen by some in the U.S. Special Forces community as essential for specialized top-secret operations against threats such as al-Qaida in coastal countries.

One defence source in Washington, who spoke on background, said the U.S. Navy has been impressed with the submarine rescue system it purchased a few years ago from B.C.-based OceanWorks International, which also sells 7.6 metre submersibles capable of carrying a handful of soldiers.

The elite, secretive U.S. Special Forces is interested and also believes the subs would "be an ideal fit" for their Canadian counterparts, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

No program has been requested or planned, however, said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, the commander of Canada's special forces.

"It is an area of interest," Thompson said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "It is potentially another tool for the toolbox."

Domestic concerns and the safety of the highly trained soldiers were some of the reasons Thompson asked staff to examine the boats in the spring of last year.

Rather than operating in waters far from home, the military is concerned about missions in the three cold oceans that border Canada.

"Given the condition of the sea water that surrounds Canada, once you put a diver in the water, he really can, depending on the temperature of the water, only be effective for so long," said Thompson.

"It's all about stealth and extending the time you can leave a guy submerged — and by submerged, I mean hidden, depending on what the mission set is."

In Canada, the ultra-secret special-forces commandos known as Joint Task Force 2 have been paying particular attention to the country's coastlines.

Last year, it was revealed JTF-2 had turned to the private sector for help in early warning of possible terror threats coming from the sea. The organization tapped into an existing fisheries surveillance contract with Provincial Airlines Ltd., a subsidiary of Provincial Aerospace Ltd. of St. John’s, N.L., to monitor the movements of vessels of interest off the country's coastline.

At a rare public appearance last summer during the military's annual northern exercise, JTF-2 commandos stormed a mock "vessel of interest" at sea while the prime minister, the defence minister and the media looked on.

The subs aren't cheap: each one — some of them currently operate as underwater tour boats with up to 20 available seats — carries a price tag of $5 million.

Sea Urchin Submersibles and Nuytco Research Ltd., a subsidiary of Can-Dive Construction Ltd., are the two other Vancouver companies with underwater technology that has caught the attention of the special forces community.

Nuytco offers one-man and two-man deep sea diving suits. Can-Dive markets small diesel-electric submarines, but does not build them.

Over the last 40 years, Vancouver has become a centre of excellence in deep-diving research and technology, said a May 4, 2011 briefing note prepared for Thompson.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly said the U.S. Navy had purchased a submarine-rescue system from B.C.-based International Submarine Engineering. In fact, the Vancouver company was a sub-contractor on the project, which was awarded to OceanWorks International.

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INVISIBLE WOUNDS

The dogs of war

The soldier advances through the damp, misty forest, her senses piqued by the slightest sign of danger, her taut muscles gliding visibly beneath desert-coloured fur.

Kali is a dog, but she's trained like a soldier. She is taught to move as efficiently as possible – a life-or-death skill in combat situations – and even here, on a routine training session in the woods of Southern Ontario, not a move is wasted. Coming up against a craggy wall of wet, black shale, she tenses and leaps to the ridge above her head with the agility of a mountain goat. Her handler, Kevin Whitenect, is waiting there. Praising her, he scoops up her leash and they continue their trek.

VIDEO

Video: On the ground with the dogs of war

Working dogs like Kali are increasingly being recruited to join elite combat units. This spring, after Navy SEALs stormed the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was hiding, reports surfaced that a dog had been part of the expert team, possibly to check for explosives or sniff out people hiding. Experts speculated that the dog was most likely a German shepherd or a Malinois – the same breed of dog now scouting the terrain at Mr. Whitenect's side.

Tucked into the hills of Ontario's Niagara Escarpment is a facility that produces these four-legged soldiers. Baden K-9 Inc. has been quietly breeding and training highly specialized working dogs for 35 years for clients that include the U.S. military, the RCMP, Israeli special forces and private contractors in Iraq. It is the kind of work that demands secrecy, so the precise location of the facility is kept under wraps.

Mike McConnery, the company's founder, isn't happy about the spike in interest in his work since the bin Laden raid. He refuses to answer questions about whether one of his dogs might have been involved, and doesn't think any high-risk work for troops on the ground should be discussed.

“The people that [hire] us aren't going to come on camera. Quiet – that's the way of our dog. Now … we have all of these eyes on us,” he says. “It went viral, this thing. We're trying to maintain security here.”

So far, he has managed to maintain the security that the most specialized forces require. And with demand growing for these dogs, his son, Josh McConnery, has started a new company, Tier 1 K9, with Mr. Whitenect – a former soldier with Canadian special forces. They adapt Baden K-9 training techniques for special-ops clients.

In the field, dogs can help to uncover everything from an improvised explosive device to a lost child. They have an innate ability to track a scent – which the trainers enhance, starting when the puppies are just six weeks old. Dogs can move faster than humans, taking down a threat without using lethal force so that soldiers can operate more safely. Their hearing is far more sensitive, allowing them to detect sounds inaudible to their human handlers. If an enemy captures a dog, they do not have ways of making it talk.

Their special capabilities make these dogs well suited to work in war zones such as Afghanistan, where IEDs have become so common. Ten years ago, the U.S. military had roughly 1,400 dogs trained for service in tracking, patrol and explosives detection; today, that number has ballooned to 2,700.

“The guys that are in the field need an edge,” Mike McConnery says. “These dogs are probes, they're distraction devices, they're allies, they're guards, they're security. They can do things that technology can't do. ... You can't hide from these dogs.”

The training they receive at Baden K-9 and Tier 1 K9 includes a specialized vocabulary of commands. Otherwise, in a high-intensity battlefield situation, a shout of “no,” for example, could distract a dog for crucial seconds.

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