Amid the final years of the Second World War, officials in Canada had concluded both that the development of a self-sufficient indigenous military aviation industry would be of considerable national value and that the new field of jet propulsion held considerable promise. As early as July 1944, Canada had commenced work on its own turbojet engine programme, producing the experimental Avro Canada Chinook powerplant. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, events such as the Korean War and Soviet atomic bomb project had contributed to the rising international tensions of what would become known as the Cold War; the Canadian Government decided to respond by greatly increasing defense expenditure. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was a major recipient of the expanded budget, reaching 46.6% of overall defense expenditure during FY 1951-1952, some of which is attributable to several major procurement programmes that were conducted.