Boeing outlines $61B in Future Fighter benefits

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  May 8, 2023 | Local, Other Defence

  Minister Anand and Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak Reaffirm Strength of Canada-Poland Defence Relationship

  May 8, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces Today, Defence Minister Anita Anand welcomed her Polish counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, to Ottawa for a bilateral meeting. Minister Anand and Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak reaffirmed that both countries will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Both Canada and Poland have been leaders in providing assistance to Ukraine, with Canada having committed over $1 billion in military aid and over $8 billion in combined military, economic, humanitarian, and other aid. Minister Anand commended Poland’s outstanding support to Ukraine, and both Ministers agreed on the importance of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group as a forum for coordinating donations of military aid to Ukraine. Minister Anand thanked Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak for Poland’s collaboration with Canada to provide military assistance to Ukraine. Under Operation UNIFIER, Canada currently has approximately 80 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel deployed to Poland, where they are: training Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) sappers on a range of basic and advanced engineering skills, engineering reconnaissance, the use of explosives for demolition work, and demining; training AFU tank crews on the use of Leopard 2 main battle tanks; and training members of the AFU with the skills needed to save lives in combat situations. These ongoing training efforts build on the CAF’s previous deployment to Poland from April to July 2022, when up to 150 CAF members deployed to Poland and worked in reception centres that coordinated the onward movement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and across Europe. Minister Anand also noted that the Royal Canadian Air Force has transported over 8 million pounds of Ukraine-bound military aid donated by Canada and its Allies, and commended Poland for its collaboration. Minister Anand lauded Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak for Poland’s leadership in hosting a Maintenance and Service Centre in partnership with Germany and Ukraine to sustain the Leopard 2 main battle tanks donated to Ukraine. The two leaders also highlighted the Canada-Poland Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which they signed on October 11, 2022 during Minister Anand’s visit to Poland. The MOU creates new opportunities for Canadian and Polish military and civilian personnel to learn from one another, train together, and enable cross-industry defence collaboration to modernize military technology. Minister Anand reaffirmed Canada’s ironclad commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Alliance, and highlighted Canada’s continued efforts to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank – notably by leading the multinational enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group in Latvia. Minister Anand welcomed the significant defence capabilities that Poland contributes to eFP Battle Group Latvia and NATO’s deterrence and defence posture. Finally, Minister Anand noted her discussions over the past few months with Polish-Canadian community leaders who have shown remarkable dedication and compassion by contributing their time and resources to support Ukrainian arrivals in Canada. Minister Anand commended the leadership shown by the Polish-Canadian community and by the Polish government to support Ukrainians. Associated links Canadian military support to Ukraine Canada’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Operation UNIFIER Canada-Poland relations https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2023/05/minister-anand-and-deputy-prime-minister-baszczak-reaffirm-strength-of-canada-poland-defence-relationship.html

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  October 10, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Ex-Quebec premier Jean Charest to pilot aerospace industry relaunch plan

  Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press MONTREAL -- Canada's aerospace industry has appointed former Quebec premier Jean Charest to chart a new course for the sector. The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada is putting Charest in the cockpit to coax funding commitments and a long-term plan from the federal government amid fears the country's star is fading. "The industry has come to the conclusion that we sort of need a reset in terms of what the future of the industry is in Canada," Charest said in a phone interview from Paris. "There is a sense that we're in a world where there's much more competition. And it's not that we're doing badly, but the world is really moving fast." Charest, a former federal minister who served as premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012, highlighted government's "very critical role" in funding, research and training for civil and defence aviation. "The Trump administration has decided to create a new division for space," he noted, referring to a newly announced military branch the U.S. president has dubbed Space Force. "We can't stand still," Charest said. Jim Quick, president of the aerospace industry group, said Canada is "not keeping up" with the sector growth and innovation of countries such as France, Germany and the United States, which have long-term strategies in place. Britain is targeting 10 per cent of the global space market within 12 years, he pointed out. Luxembourg aims to dig into space mining such as harvesting asteroid's for rare and precious metals. Quick said the new initiative, called Vision 2025, will push Ottawa to include a long-term space plan in its budget next year, alongside a commitment to help provide advanced robotics for the Lunar Gateway -- described as a third-generation Canadarm. Charest, a partner at the McCarthy Tetrault law firm, will lead discussions with government and industry officials in several cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax, culminating in a report on aerospace priorities. Aerospace leads Canada's manufacturing sector in innovation-related investment, spending over $1.8 billion on research and development in 2017 -- nearly one-quarter of total manufacturing research expenditures, according to the association. Nonetheless, Ottawa's investments in space as a percentage of GDP have dropped to 18th globally from eighth place in 1992, according to the association. The sector's manufacturing employment has fallen by five per cent since 2012. Canada hosts the world's fifth-largest aerospace industry, contributing nearly $25 billion to Canada's economy and almost 190,000 jobs in 2017, the association said. https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/ex-quebec-premier-jean-charest-to-pilot-aerospace-industry-relaunch-plan-1.4127569

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  January 11, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  AETE to join testing “centre of excellence” in Ottawa

  by Chris Thatcher The Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) is unlikely to move from 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta., until at least 2021, but already its location is attracting interest from potential future tenants. “The AETE building is the second-largest we have on the base, [so] there are a lot of eyes on my hangar,” Col Eric Grandmont, AETE's commanding officer, told Skies in a recent interview. While no one has shown up with paint swatches and asked to measure for new drapes, “a few people at different levels did walkthroughs,” he said. “There is a lot of interest, and rightly so. It could help a lot in the transition as new fighter capabilities come in and allow the base to grow.” The AETE hangar had been considered a likely destination for a new squadron of Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets, had the government proceeded with a plan to acquire 18 aircraft as an interim measure to augment the Royal Canadian Air Force's current fleet of 76 CF-188 Hornets. Though the Liberals have since opted to acquire 25 Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornets–18 operational and seven for spare parts–following a commercial dispute with Boeing, the AETE building is still part of the RCAF's future expansion plans for the fighter fleet. AETE's pending move made headlines in early December when Patrick Finn, the assistant deputy minister for materiel (ADM Mat) at the Department of National Defence (DND), told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the $470 million allotted for acquisition of interim fighter jets and an upgrade program to the entire Hornet fleet also included funding to cover AETE's relocation. The comment touched off an exchange with the committee chair, Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson of Battle River-Crowfoot, Alta., over when the decision was made and whether it might impact jobs in Cold Lake. In fact, the possible relocation of AETE dates back to the Defence Renewal Plan, an effort begun in 2012 to streamline business processes, find efficiencies, and maximize operational results across the Canadian Armed Forces and DND. As part of a change introduced in 2016 to how the RCAF and ADM Mat contract maintenance and support service, known as the Sustainment Initiative, DND conducted a review called the Engineering Flight Test Rationalization to assess ways to make AETE more sustainable, effective and efficient. The Flight Test Establishment had originally moved to Cold Lake from Ottawa in 1971 to take advantage of the large test range and more favourable flying climate. At the time, AETE owned a substantial fleet of instrumented test aircraft. Today, of the RCAF's 19 fleets of aircraft, AETE operates just two: two CF-188 Hornets and two CH-146 Griffons. It also has five CT-114 Tutors that are used mostly for proficiency flying. “For the remaining 17 fleets, we go on the road and deploy to do testing,” explained Grandmont, a flight test engineer. “Which means we are on the road a lot.” As fleets have become more digital, AETE has changed how it conducts tests. Where in the past an aircraft might have been instrumented from nose to tail–a process that could take months–AETE now has instrumentation packages that leverage the digital architecture of aircraft and can be quickly installed on location. “The technology is there to be able to get pretty much all the data we need,” he said of the newer and upgraded fleets. “Every project will have specific requirements, so it doesn't mean we don't have to put string gauges and stuff like that on an aircraft, but we are trying to maximize the existing systems onboard the aircraft.” However, that expanded travel, which can range from three to seven months a year, has made it difficult to attract test pilots and flight test engineers to Cold Lake. Aside from fighter pilots, who are already based at 4 Wing, few from the transport, tactical aviation, maritime patrol, maritime helicopter and search and rescue fleets are willing to volunteer. “We are asking people to move their family to Cold Lake and then deploy all the time to do testing,” said Grandmont. “And it's not that easy to travel to and from Cold Lake. It can become a 14- to 15-hour day or a two-day (trip) each way.” In addition to attracting and retaining talent–“I am starting to have a line up just based on the news from a couple of weeks ago; there are already people calling and asking, when are you guys moving?” said Grandmont–the return to Ottawa would also allow AETE to capitalize on testing resources already at the Ottawa International Airport operated by Transport Canada, which also employs test pilots and flight test engineers, and the National Research Council Canada's flight research laboratory. Transport Canada and the NRC focus primarily on commercial flight, but all three organizations use similar support systems to develop aircraft instrumentation packages, to test basic systems, and to analyze data. Transport Canada also has a new flight simulator building to accommodate the CAE 3000 Series helicopter cockpit simulators for the Canadian Coast Guard Bell 412EPI and Bell 429 helicopters, as well as fixed-wing simulators for a Cessna Citation C550 and a Beechcraft King Air. “We gain a lot of efficiency because those simulators are way cheaper to operate than what we do right now,” said Grandmont. The aim would be to create a Canadian centre of excellence for flight test science, engineering instrumentation and evaluation, he added. Among AETE's 50 to 60 recent and current projects were systems testing on the CH-147F Chinooks prior to their first operational deployment to Mali under hot and dusty conditions; preparation of the CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter for its first deployment aboard HMCS Ville de Quebec in summer 2018; test and evaluation of CF-188 Hornet systems and gear as the RCAF finalizes an upgrade package; and testing of systems and the airframe as the CP-140 Aurora completes a four-phased incremental modernization project and structural life extension. “Any question that cannot be answered using computer models or wind tunnels, then flight test is the last test to be able to answer those questions before a system on an aircraft can get an airworthiness certification,” explained Grandmont. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/aete-to-join-testing-centre-of-excellence-in-ottawa