True North Strong Alt Canada history part 3

A third addition to the ongoing Alt Canada history which started with the award winning essay by dathi_thorfinnsson about a different Canada that won the War of 1812 outright against the US and changed both country's futures. To view his entire alternative timeline, see it here, alternatehistory .

So my first post on the subject, https://marymargretcallahan.blogspot.com/2020/01/alt-history-canada.html 
is a continuation on that. In it, I followed along a natural progression of events to the present. I also added an alt list of Prime Ministers, and a look at Canada's sports in this alt timeline.

In the second post on this topic, https://marymargretcallahan.blogspot.com/2020/03/alt-history-canada-part-2.html
I gave a detailed view of all the provinces and territories in the alt timeline in a sort of wikipedia style including maps, flags, economy, schools, etc. I had also added the military bases in each province and territory. Being the retired military person that I am, I decided to explore this further.

In the first essay, I posted that Canada would be much more involved in the world wars and be a force in the world during the cold war and still be today. As a former member of Canada's armed forces, I have seen how in real life our military went from a highly respected force following WW2 and Korea to a much smaller, less forceful version after the Avro Arrow debacle ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow ) and during the Pierre Trudeau years.  In this alt timeline, Canada has a much larger population (95 million today) and a more robust economy, making Canada the number four economy in the world. With Canada playing a bigger role on the world stage, in the UN, etc, we keep our military large, sharp and well equipped. The Canadian military has always been seen world wide as highly trained, disciplined and respected force but just too small and under equipped to matter.

In this alt timeline, Canada is less reliant on importing weapons and materials. Since Beoing is a Canadian company, we build most of our own large aircraft. Avro is still the world leader in fighter aircraft production. The Mark 4 Arrow is now the top fighter aircraft in the world and their classified CF-220 is untouchable. Bombardier, Bell and DeHavilland also contribute to this effort. Only a small number of aircraft are imported and usually for trade offs from our own companies. Canada maintains 95 squadrons across the country in 24 wings, with headquarters in Winnipeg. Individual Commands, such as Bomber, Transport, Fighter, etc operate out of Winnipeg also. Most of the country's nuclear weapons are maintained by the RCAF. NORAD HQ is in North Bay. 25 Wing in Alert, Nunavut is the most northern settlement and base in the world, used for surveilance, early warning and electronic warfare. Twenty one Tactical Helicoper Squadrons are in support of the Army on Army bases. CF 188 Super Hornet fighters and CH 148 Merlin helicopters operate on RCN ships. Since Canada has the world's largest oil reserves, we are totally self reliant on fuel for our vehicles, ships and aircraft.

Our Army is also almost self reliant in equipment. Our tanks are manufactured in Detroit, enough for three full size armoured divisions and five mechanized infantry divisions. Our artillery pieces are made in Hamilton. Ammunition is also home made. Our Arctic Division is fully equipped with snow mobiles and other snow machines from Bombardier . There are also five specialized divisions (mountain, airborne, air mobile and arctic). The Special Forces are division sized and have a black budget. We have over 270,000 soldiers in the Army. The Army is structured in Divisions, 14 in total with an Army HQ in Frontanac. Brigades make up the Divisions with a minimum of one full regular force Brigade Group in each. Reserve Brigades stationed mainly in cities fill out the rest of the Division. Canadian Rangers, Inuit soldiers, are the guides, and first response in the arctic, spread across Army, Air, and Navy bases in the north. There are several training schools divided umongst the bases with two dedicated bases, Wainwright for basic and infantry, and Montreal for admin and logistics that do not house active units. Ninety three anti- aircraft defence batteries are located on RCAF bases. Canada's reputation also includes having never lost a war (including three against the US).

Canada's Navy was still small to start in this timeline. That having to do with Britain's policy on having the Royal Navy rule the seas. They deemed that their Navy would protect all the realms of the Empire up to the first world war. That is where Britain saw the weakness of the policy and decided to have the Dominions build their own fleets usually with start up ships from their own fleets. In this timeline, Canada starts ship building in earnest between the wars. We still import vessels from Britain and New England. Post Korean war Canada sees Canada build nuclear powered subs and aircraft carriers. Canada is a world leader in nuclear energy. Our uranium resources and leading tech make it possible. Canada and Britain trade off, with ship tech coming from Britain and nuclear tech from Canada. Nuclear subs allows Canada to patrol the far northern waters to counter any Russian threat. The Navy is home to the Royal Canadian Marine Commandos too with a full Regiment on each coast and four Commando Squadrons in various locations. The RCN keeps a battleship and an aircraft carrier on each coast and has several cruisers, destroyers and frigates, coastal vessals and support ships. A Squadron of ships is also positioned on the great lakes to protect the vital waterways. The 1843 treaty with the US prevents them from keeping armed ships on border waters. Canadian gunboats also patrol the border rivers. Canada is able to defend the north without help from Kiska, Alaska in the west to the east coast of Greenland and from the Beaufort sea in the north to the Great Lakes in the south as well as the border rivers, the Maumee, Mississippi and the Columbia.

Canada is also a nuclear power. We have always had the technology and as a world power, we embrace it. That means that our North American alliance (Canada, US and New England), NORAD is dominated by Canada, running the show from North Bay. We are also a bigger player in NATO. As well as these alliances, Canada and Britain still maintain a close Imperial alliance. Britain keeps one fighter squadron, one armoured brigade group, a cruiser and a destroyer attached to Canada's forces in exchange for continued loyalty.

Canada's forces...

Gunboat sailor of the RCN

RCN sailor

Royal Canadian Marine Commando

RC Marine Commando

RCAF helicopter pilot

 

 

 

standard Army combat uniform

Highland soldier (Black Watch)

Armored Corp trooper (4th Hussars)

Trooper on Leopard III tank

Mech Infantry soldier and Bison APC

Mountain soldier

Mountain soldier (10 MLIR)

Airborne soldier (1CPR)

Airborne soldier C-130F

Airborne

Airborne soldier

Arctic soldier and C-7 sled 

Arctic soldier (3CArcR)

Arctic soldier

Special Service Force Operator (JTF2)

Special Ops

SSF counter terrorist operations