{"id":56322,"date":"2025-07-11T08:01:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T08:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56322\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T08:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T08:01:17","slug":"lt-gen-jamie-speiser-blanchet-becomes-first-woman-to-lead-canadas-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/56322\/","title":{"rendered":"Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet becomes first woman to lead Canada\u2019s air force"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet takes the reins as the federal government has committed to a large increase in defence spending.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet made history Thursday by becoming the first woman to lead the Royal Canadian Air Force.<\/p>\n

She took the reins from Lt.-Gen. Eric Kenny at a change-of-command ceremony at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum presided over by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel exhilarated,\u201d Speiser-Blanchet told reporters after the ceremony. \u201cI feel optimistic and also grounded in reality. I see big challenges, but I\u2019m extremely honoured to have this opportunity and I feel a really strong sense of pride being here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speiser-Blanchet assumes command at a key time for the air force, as it struggles with personnel shortages and looks to take on new capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working a lot on known personnel shortages, so recruiting is increasing. We\u2019re working diligently with all of our partners within the Department of Defence and even externally on retention measures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As Canada\u2019s air force celebrates 100 years, women reflect on their role in its history<\/a><\/p>\n

The RCAF is poised to soon take on its next generation of fighter jet: the American-made F-35 stealth fighter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That procurement project is currently under review by the federal government due to the ongoing trade war with the United States. The deal with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. government is for 88 planes at a cost of about US$85-million each.<\/p>\n

Canada has already purchased the first 16 F-35s, which are due to be delivered early next year. Ottawa is expected to arrive at a decision on the remaining warplanes very early in Speiser-Blanchet\u2019s mandate \u2013 by end of summer.<\/p>\n

But with the first F-35s expected to enter service within the next few years, pilots will need to quickly begin training.<\/p>\n

The air force also faces what Speiser-Blanchet described as an \u201cexcellent challenge\u201d to have: the federal government has committed to a large increase in defence spending<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need to do so very judiciously and to make sure that there\u2019s the right value for money,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the personnel shortage and the extra demand, we have a very unstable world at the moment and meeting a lot of those operational demands while we\u2019re trying to institutionalize some of the acquisitions and changes, I think, is really where that challenge space is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny, who had been commander since 2022, is retiring after three-and-a-half decades of service in the air force.<\/p>\n

He said he is leaving with mixed emotions, at a \u201cpoint in history where our adversaries are aggressively challenging the rules-based international order and have attacked the beliefs, friendships and freedoms we have enjoyed for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny praised the incoming commander for her vast network of connections across government departments and industry, and for pushing the department to \u201cchallenge the status quo\u201d and build an \u201cagile, integrated and inclusive\u201d air force.<\/p>\n

He also said he is \u201csomewhat envious that she will be in command as all our new capabilities are delivered in the coming few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speiser-Blanchet has served in the past as a Griffon helicopter pilot and in various command roles, most recently as deputy commander of the air force.<\/p>\n

Her operational deployments included UN and NATO peacekeeping tours in Haiti and Bosnia, along with domestic deployments in response to emergencies such as forest fires and floods.<\/p>\n

Speiser-Blanchet comes from Chicoutimi, Que., and is now the 22nd commander of the RCAF, which employs some 15,000 military and civilian personnel and manages more than 250 aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet takes the reins as the federal government has committed to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-56322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}