Massive high-tech Canadian helicopter helps navy in hunt for submarines

LUZON STRAIT, Indo-Pacific –

CTV National News is on board HMCS Ottawa, with correspondent Adrian Ghobrial embedded with Canadian Navy personnel and documenting their work in the Indo-Pacific – a region where China is increasingly flexing its maritime muscle. This is the second of a series of dispatches from the ship.

Canadian warships deployed by the navy on a mission to promote peace and rules-based order in the hotly-contested waters of the Indo-Pacific, includes a highly-skilled specialized crew from the Royal Canadian Air Force.

A Canadian Air Force Cyclone helicopter landing on HMCS Ottawa on Jan. 8, 2025 (Phil Fraboni / CTV News)

Detachment Commander Maj. Darlene Sych and her team operate the CH-148 Cyclone, a massive, twin-engine helicopter, that’s deployed multiple times a day from HMCS Ottawa as it travels through the Indo-Pacific.

The crew is part of Operation Horizon, on a mission to help keep international order along vital shipping routes which are becoming more volatile with each passing month.

“We’re out here just trying to keep the world a little safer,” Maj. Sych told CTV National News.

The Cyclone is an essential tool that extends the reconnaissance reach of HMCS Ottawa, with its radar, sonar technology and infrared system.

The Department of National Defence describes the Cyclone as “one of the most capable maritime helicopters in the world” that can be used for search and rescue missions, surface and sub-surface surveillance, and more.

Maj. Sych said the high-tech tools at her disposal that the Cyclone provides “help us find ships or submarines much further out ahead of HMCS Ottawa than (the ship) ever could.”

A CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter is seen during a training exercise at 12 Wing Shearwater near Dartmouth, N.S. on March 4, 2015 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)

Each warship deployed by the Royal Canadian Navy to the Indo-Pacific region in recent months, as part of Operation Horizon, has been equipped with one of these helicopters.

CTV National News is reporting from HMCS Ottawa this week. Its location on this day is the Luzon Strait, which separates the Philippines to the south and Taiwan to the north.

At 175 kilometers in length, the nearby Taiwan Strait has become a flashpoint for geo-political tensions as China’s government asserts its claim over Taiwan. Canadian frigates have navigated the Strait in recent months to encourage open passage for all ships.

The Taiwan Strait sees more than 20 per cent of global maritime shipping pass through its waters each year.

Map showing the Luzon Strait and Taiwan Strait in the Indo-Pacific (CTV News / Jasna Baric)

Canadians rely on the shipping corridor and Taiwan for its microchips and the semiconductors found in our phones, vehicles and computers.

President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, David Perry, said “the Strait is vital economic territory for trade routes, that means its vital from a military standpoint.”

Perry, a geo-political expert, said he believes that any play by China to control the Taiwan Strait and surrounding seas is a strategic military manoeuvre that could leave Taiwan and other western allies vulnerable.

It’s an example of what’s on the line, as Maj. Sych’s team send their hulking helicopter into the sky as they push for peace and prosperity for all on the open waters.

A recent deployment by the Canadian Navy through the Taiwan Strait this past summer was condemned by the Chinese defence ministry, which warned Canada to be cautious of its “words and deeds” when it comes to Taiwan’s independence.