The Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) project has been paused, according to CBC.
The national broadcaster reported June 27 the federal government had stopped work on the project to extend the life of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-146 Griffon helicopter fleet, “to allow for a reassessment of scope in light of cost, schedule, evolving complexity and planning underway for a replacement fleet,” according to a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence (DND).
The Griffons, a variant of the Bell 412, entered service between 1994 and 1998, and were expected to continue flying until the early 2030s once the life-extension work was completed.
Citing confidential sources, CBC said GLLE had “run into technical issues,” raising concerns the upgrade could not be completed on all 85 helicopters.
The concerns are not new. As Skies Plus reported in 2025, delays in the development and testing schedule were prompting the RCAF to reconsider whether the Mk II Griffon program, as it is known, was still necessary as the RCAF makes progress on a multi-phased program called the next Tactical Aviation Capability Set (nTACS), to eventually replace the CH-146 fleet.
“It’s turned out to be more complicated than we thought it was going to be. We’re looking at what [our] options are,” MGen Jeff Smyth, Chief of Air and Space Force Development, told Skies Plus in an interview last fall.
“Given the government’s intent to go faster on a bunch of [projects], do we need to upgrade [the Griffons] right before we retire them? Part of that [consideration] is how quickly we can move nTACS. Right now, we’re still planning on moving ahead with GLLE, because we’re not going to get enough new helicopters before we need the upgrades that are involved in GLLE.”
Bell Textron Canada was awarded a $90 million contract in January 2019 to develop the design changes for the CH-146 life-extension, which include new avionics and cockpit displays, communication and navigations systems, and a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-9 Twin-Pac engine.
That was followed in May 2022 by an $800 million contract to complete the upgrades in partnership with Alpine Aerotech and Heli-One, both in British Columbia.
Bell completed the first flight on the new design in June 2024, launching an in-house aircraft testing and evaluation program with its pilots and flight test engineers.
As of June 2025, Bell had fully assembled two Griffons and begun work on three more at its facility in Mirabel, Que., and was in the process of transferring the next helicopters to Alpine Aerotek and Heli-One.
“The initial phase of the testing and evaluation really has to do with the functionality of the aircraft, the flying characteristics of the aircraft,” Marc Bigaouette, Bell Textron Canada’s director of Canadian government programs, told Skies Plus in an interview at CANSEC 2025.
“Eventually, we will move into the operational testing and evaluation” with the RCAF, likely by mid- to late 2026.
The first certified upgraded rotorcraft was expected to return to service in 2027.
GLLE represents a complete cockpit transformation from analog to digital systems, and Bell experienced early delays resolving software issues, Bigaouette acknowledged, but most had been addressed by 2025.
According to statements provided by both DND and Bell, the project is on hold while the RCAF and the manufacturer assess the upgrades, CBC said.
“We remain committed to working collaboratively with the federal government to adapt the GLLE program accordingly,” said a spokesperson for Bell Textron. “Together, we are in the process of redefining the project’s scope of work.”
“The project is being refined to focus on targeted upgrades that address obsolescence, to support continued safe and effective operations and sound investments,” said the DND spokesperson.
“We remain confident that focusing on these upgrades will provide the [RCAF] with the modern, effective and interoperable helicopters it needs to continue supporting operations until the mid-2030s.”
The Griffon is a multirole utility helicopter that operates from 10 locations across Canada, providing tactical aviation in support of the army and special operations forces, combat support, and search and rescue.
However, the fleet has been showing its age for some time.
The RCAF created the nTACS project office in 2022 to begin evaluating concepts and defining options for next-generation fleets. As of early 2026, it had entered the definition phase of defence procurement.
Smyth told Skies Plus the plan was to buy new helicopters in three phases. The first involves 18 or so airframes to replace the Griffons operated by 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron. The second phase will secure an attack and reconnaissance helicopter, and the third will deliver one or more types of airframes to support Canadian Army transformation.
Smyth said options for the latter could include the NATO Next-Gen Rotorcraft Capability, Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks, or even the Bell MV-75 tiltrotor being developed for the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program. By phasing nTACS, “it allows for some of that other technology to mature,” he said.
During and immediately following CANSEC 2026 in late May, Airbus demonstrated the ability of the H145M and H175M for all three phases. Leonardo, too, is likely to propose one or both of its AW249 and AW149 platforms.
The nTACS project office is anticipating initial operating capability for the second and third phases by 2032.
