The Canadian military needs an aircraft carrier if it wants to send expeditionary forces to hot spots around the world, an internationally renowned naval expert said Thursday in Halifax.

Norman Friedman delivered the advice to about 150 people, most of them in uniform, attending a maritime security conference organized by Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies.

"Because your navy got very good at operating very large helicopters, you get somewhat more out of it than other navies do — that’s a nice thing," Mr. Friedman, an American physicist specializing in strategic and technological naval problems, said in an interview.

"But if you’re going to operate expeditionary (forces), independently, I’m talking about a carrier."

Rather than a small helicopter carrier, Mr. Friedman indicated the best bet would be a large ship that could launch fighter-bombers.

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