There was a grand opening ceremony Thursday morning for the NATO-accredited International Tactical Training Centre facility on Roundel Road in North Bay. The event was held just days after the facility at the Jack Garland Airport hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited with Ukrainian pilots being trained at the 21,000-square-foot centre. “This is an absolute milestone day,” Dave Lohse, CEO of the International Test Pilots School, told reporters at the Sept. 17 event. The school officers advanced military aviation training for NATO and its allies right in northern Ontario. It is training pilots for Ukraine under an agreement with the Government of Canada. “President Zelenskyy expressed his appreciation for the important work that the Government of Canada is doing in supporting the sovereignty and security of Ukraine and expressed his admiration for the training campus that we have established,” Lohse said. The move from London, Ont., to Jack Garland was a “natural fit,” Lohse said, due to the abundance of unused airspace and the city’s history of training pilots to fight in Europe during the Second World War. The centre currently trains more than 20 fighter pilots to ensure sovereignty for NATO, Five Eyes and allied air forces. Soon, the flight school will expand to 100 students. “We are currently undergoing an important Department of National Defence contract on behalf of the Government of Canada,” Lohse said. “In addition to that, we have our launch NATO customer, which is the Belgian Air Force.” Training lasts from four months up to a year, depending on the student’s experience and whether they need English language aptitude training. “Our students can get airborne and within 10 minutes, they are doing important tactical training events in the skies,” Lohse added. They run simulations, fly aircraft and debrief with flight instructors. The training centre built its own in-house AI language model set called ‘Cognitiv6.’ It collects a large variety of data while an aircraft is in the air and crunches it into the machine to help instructors with the training. “It processes that information based on what we want to get out of it, and it gives us learning debrief points, places that we can focus in on,” ITTC director Stefan Porteous said. “We can really take fighter pilot training to the next level.” Porteous said the system is safe as it’s being used as a processing engine. At no point does the AI interfere with any human input. Student pilots fly an L-39 Albatross. Once their training is complete, they’ll be ready to fly an F-16 or F-35. Senator Rebecca Patterson also toured the facility Thursday. Patterson is a member of the Canadian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and a 34-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. She focuses on defence, security and intelligence. “This is the bee’s knees. This is Canadian legacy, as well,” she said. “As we move into this uncertain world, to actually be a training hub, the support and the innovation and the allyship with our key partners, this is how it should be and especially when I hear it’s one of a kind in Canada and one of only four in North America.” A $50-million capital investment will lead to a second, 50,000-square-foot hangar adjacent to the current facility, offering more space for fighter jets and classrooms. “North Bay is no longer a community that is just thinking about its proud aviation history,” said Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Pauline Rochefort. “It’s becoming a community with a bright aviation and defence future.” The International Test Pilots School Canada is buying six Italian-made Leonardo M-346 T Block 20 advanced jet trainer aircraft in 2029 for use at the centre, with an option of six more if required. “A lot of people are familiar with Top Gun,” Loshe quipped. “This is a very, very serious mission here.”
