The federal government says it will spend at least $2 billion on 16 medium to heavy-lift helicopters for the military.

"Mobility is an essential capability that the men and women of the Canadian Forces need to get the job done," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said Wednesday in a news release.

What the military wants is to a helicopter that will be capable of carrying 30 fully-equipped soldiers plus a light artillery piece.

In Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers don't have their own helicopters, although they can sometimes catch rides from other coalition nations.

That means remote bases must be re-supplied by truck, and that puts soldiers at risk of being harmed by roadside bombs.

Analysts believe the government is leaning toward the Boeing Chinook twin-rotored military helicopter.

Besides the purchase, the government will be tendering for a 20-year, $2.7-billion maintenance contract.

The plan for helicopters is the third big-ticket military spending announcement by the Tories in as many days.

On Monday, O'Connor was in the Maritimes to announce that $2.1 billion would be spent on ships. Tuesday saw an announcement in Val Cartier, Que. about spending $1.2 billion trucks and related equipment.

Asked it this was like Christmas for the military, Gen. Rick Hillier, the country's chief of defence staff, told Newsnet: "I don't describe it as Christmas.

"I describe it as those great young men and women who serve our country so well getting the equipment they deserve and the equipment that they need to do the jobs our country asks them to do."

All the purchases related to moving troops, equipment and supplies -- something Hillier characterized as "the spine of any operation," be it domestic or abroad.

The purchases form "line one of our defence capability plan, which we are prepared to bring forward to our minister in the fall," he said.