The Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) has announced that they are putting the C$800M life extension project for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-146 Griffon (GLLE) on hold.

The Griffon Limited Life Extension contract was awarded to Bell in 2022, followed by a separate C$2.2 billion In-Service Support contract to keep the CH-146 fleet flying until 2039 awarded in 2024. The upgrade included replacing a number of the aircraft’s avionics systems, including communications radios, cockpit voice and flight recorders, navigation systems, automatic flight control systems, control display units and upgraded engines.

In 2024 Bell Textron Canada announced the successful first flight of one of the RCAF’s
CH-146C Mk II version and the first upgraded CH-146 Griffon completed under the GLLE project was expected to be delivered to the Canadian government in 2026 pending IOC approval.