Major General J.D. Smyth

Originally from Chatham, Ontario, MGen Smyth graduated with his pilot wings in 1994 and was posted to 427 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Petawawa, Ontario. His operational experience includes deployments to Haiti (1995-96) flying the CH135 Twin Huey, Bosnia-Herzegovina (2000-01) and Afghanistan (2009-10) flying the CH146 Griffon. He has conducted numerous domestic operations providing support to forest fires, floods and ice storms. He was Deputy Commanding Officer of 427 Sqn during the transition to 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron.

He was appointed Commanding Officer of 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Edmonton, Alberta in January 2008. He deployed to Afghanistan from October 2009 to August 2010 as Commanding Officer of the Canadian Helicopter Force (Afghanistan), flying more than 400 hours and 76 combat missions in the CH146 Griffon. He commanded the Canadian Forces Warfare Centre in Ottawa from 2014-2017. From 2018-2020 he held the position of Deputy Chief of the NORAD and US NORTHCOM Command Centre in Colorado Springs. In 2020 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and posted to the position of Director General Operations at Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa. In October 2021 he assumed the role of Director General Strategies, Effects and Readiness in the Strategic Joint Staff. In July 2024 he was promoted to his present rank and assumed the RCAF Chief Fighter and NORAD Capabilities portfolio.

MGen Smyth has held staff positions at 1 Wing HQ in Kingston and NDHQ Ottawa. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada (Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering and Management 1993, Master of Public Administration 2019), The Canadian Forces Land Command and Staff College (1999), the Australian Command and Staff College (2008), and Canadian Forces College National Security Program (2018).

MGen Smyth has over 3500 flying hours, mainly in the CH135 Twin Huey and CH146 Griffon helicopters. He is married with three children and is an avid cyclist.