Canada launches AI project to manage BVLOS search and rescue operations

On the same subject

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  February 13, 2023 | Local, Aerospace

  More than $6 billion earmarked for F-35 weapons - cost separate from aircraft purchase

  The funds will be for new advanced air-to-air missiles, still-to-be-determined weapons projects for the stealth fighters and maintenance of the weapons stockpiles.

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  October 9, 2018 | Local, C4ISR

  String of radar stations in Canadian Arctic nearly obsolete — and modernizing them will cost billions

  David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen The radar sites detect potential threats entering North America's airspace and transmit a stream of data to military command centres in the south CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut — The white domes that rise from the tundra look innocuous enough, and yet they play a critical role in protecting millions of Canadians and Americans thousands of kilometres away. Inside, where photographs are forbidden, they are like a time capsule from the late 1980s, the décor still reflecting the late Cold War era when the Canadian and U.S. governments established the North Warning System, the chain of mostly unmanned radar sites of which the Cambridge Bay facility is a part. Spanning Canada's northern coastline across the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Labrador, the radar sites exist to detect potential threats entering North America's airspace, transmitting a stream of data to military command centres in the south. At the Cambridge Bay site, dozens of civilian contractors — employees of Raytheon Canada — work around the clock to keep the installation operating in temperatures that can dip to -60 C in January or February. At times during the winter, Arctic storms almost completely cover some of the sites in snow, requiring contractors to climb through hatches in the roofs of the buildings to conduct maintenance work. But the North Warning System now faces a threat greater than the harsh Arctic environment. In seven years the radar system is expected to be obsolete. The Canadian and U.S. governments are trying to figure out how to upgrade the radars for modern times — opening the door that the sensors could be plugged in to the Pentagon's missile defence system as well as be modernized so they can track a new generation of Russian cruise missiles. Canada and the U.S. are trying to figure out technological improvements for the early warning system and are in the midst of discussions on the topic. A joint study on continental defence is expected to be finished by next year, Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier told Postmedia. “Following the completion of the study, Canada and the United States will determine the next steps for the replacement of the NWS and update the project timelines accordingly,” he added. But that could emerge as yet another point of contention between Canada and the Trump administration in the U.S., which has already admonished Canada for not spending enough on defence. The last time the U.S. and Canada modernized the radar system was during the tenure of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, when relations between the two nations were on a solid footing. “Negotiating with the Trump administration is going to be a lot different than with the Reagan government,” explained defence analyst Martin Shadwick. “Trump will be the wild card.” Shadwick said details about funding and what the radars need to do in the future could become sticking points. The Liberal government has recognized it has to do something about what it calls the capability gaps in the North Warning System. “While the current NWS is approaching the end of its life expectancy from a technological and functional perspective, unfortunately the range of potential threats to the continent, such as that posed by adversarial cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, has become more complex and increasingly difficult to detect,” the government's defence strategy, released last year, pointed out. But the Liberals did not include funding for the modernization of the NWS in that policy, saying it would come later. Canada is currently responsible for 40 per cent of the cost of the North Warning System, with the remaining 60 per cent falling to the Americans. Canada owns the sites and provides the site operations and maintenance while the U.S. owns the radar and radio equipment. Ernie Regehr, a senior fellow in Arctic security and defence at The Simons Foundation, has found that while the cost for upgrading the North Warning System is unknown at this time it can be expected to run into the billions of dollars. Canada and the U.S. share the responsibility for a credible contribution to the defence of North America, Regehr pointed out. “And the American definition of credible is the one that counts,” he wrote in a March briefing for the Simons Foundation. Full article: https://nationalpost.com/news/modernizing-warning-radars-in-the-arctic-will-cost-canada-and-the-us-billions-of-dollars

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  September 24, 2018 | Local, Naval

  Federal officials don't want to be pinned down on a date to start building new navy: documents

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN DND officials warned that committing to a specific time to start cutting steel on the warships 'will add additional risk' Irving Shipbuilding is pushing federal officials to announce a firm date to begin construction on Canada's new fleet of warships, arguing that will help drive the project along. But the company is facing resistance from federal officials concerned about missing a publicly announced start date, as happened with the Arctic patrol ships now under construction, according to documents released to Postmedia. Federal officials have continued to say that construction of the Canadian Surface Combatant fleet would begin sometime in the early 2020s but no specific date had been set. Irving representatives tried last year to convince federal bureaucrats of the need to set a specific date to begin construction. “(Irving) noted that hard dates is what drives the work,” according to the report from the Jan. 17, 2017 meeting of deputy ministers overseeing the national shipbuilding plan. But the firm faced pushback from Department of National Defence officials. “DND cautioned against setting a hard production date to work towards, noting the challenges this approach caused on AOPS,” the report noted. DND officials warned that committing to a specific time to start cutting steel on the warships “will add additional risk.” The AOPS were announced in 2007 by then prime minister Stephen Harper and were supposed to be in the water by 2013. But construction didn't start until 2015. The first ship was launched on Sept. 15 and won't be operational until 2019. Three consortiums have submitted bids for the surface combatant program and those are still being evaluated. The project will see 15 warships buiilt by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax. A winning bid is expected to be selected sometime this year. The ships will form the backbone of the future Royal Canadian Navy. Scott Leslie, director general of large combat ship construction at Public Services and Procurement Canada, said that a more precise construction date can't be provided now because a winning design has yet to be selected. “There are a lot of variables around it, one of the main ones being which design is chosen and how much work is required to get that design evolved and buildable at Irving Shipyards,” Leslie explained. Irving is worried about the gap after building of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships but before construction of the surface combatants. If the two projects are not aligned, workers could face layoffs and Irving is worried it will lose skilled personnel. The government has already faced delays and rising costs with the warships. In 2008, it estimated the total cost to be about $26 billion. But in 2015, then navy commander Vice Admiral Mark Norman voiced concern that taxpayers may not have been given all the information and predicted the cost alone for the ships would be around $30 billion. Cost estimates for the entire project are now between $55 billion and $60 billion. About half is for systems and equipment on the 15 ships, according to federal documents obtained by Postmedia through the Access to Information law. “Approximately one-half of the CSC build cost is comprised of labour in the (Irving's) Halifax yard and materials,” the documents added. Last year, Jean-Denis Fréchette, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, estimated the CSC program would cost $61.82 billion. He also warned that every year the awarding of the contract is delayed beyond 2018, taxpayers will spend an extra $3 billion, because of inflation. The first ship will be delivered in the mid 2020s. In November, in a surprise twist, a French-Italian consortium declined to formally submit a bid and instead offered Canada a fleet of vessels at around $30 billion. Officials with Fincantieri of Italy and Naval Group of France said they don't believe the procurement process as currently designed will be successful. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canada/federal-officials-dont-want-to-be-pinned-down-on-a-date-to-start-building-new-navy-documents-show/wcm/eaace91c-ece6-4a5a-b130-e1d96b7ff261