The CP-140 Aurora is a long-range patrol aircraft used for multiple types of missions over land and water.
The Aurora supports a wide variety of roles, including operations management, maritime and overland intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, strike coordination, and search and rescue. It can also assist other government agencies to combat illegal fishing, pollution, drug trafficking, and more.
The Government of Canada is modernizing its fleet of 14 Aurora aircraft. The Aurora Incremental Modernization Project (AIMP) involves 23 individual projects to acquire, integrate and install new mission systems and sensors onto the CP-140 for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. This project is being executed in a phased approach with four blocks; blocks I, II and III are complete, and block IV is in the implementation phase.
The Government of Canada has also extended the life of the Aurora fleet. The Aurora Structural Life Extension Project (ASLEP) involved replacing wings and horizontal stabilizers on the aircraft, which will extend the operational life of the CP-140 Aurora fleet to the 2030 timeframe. All aircraft have been life-extended and the project is currently in the close-out phase.
Canada will replace its legacy CP-140 Aurora fleet with the P-8A Poseidon for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
The Aurora fleet is Canada’s primary airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft. The Aurora provides a full range of maritime, littoral and overland surveillance capabilities for domestic and deployed missions in support of Canadian sovereignty and international objectives, as well as anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. It has been modernized with a world-class integrated mission suite with state-of-the-art avionics, communications systems, computer networks, and sensors.
Close-out:
- Aurora incremental modernization project (AIMP) December 2024
- Aurora structural life extension project (ASLEP) December 2021
The modernization of the CP-140 Aurora is a Canadian innovation success story, delivering a world class product sourced primarily from Canadian industry with companies such as General Dynamics Canada, MacDonald Dettweiler and Associates, L3 and IMP Aerospace.
The total approved cost in 2019 for AIMP and ASLEP combined is $1.983 billion.
