CANADA : Le spécialiste des véhicules blindés Inkas se lance dans les interceptions

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  November 23, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Norway’s experience with F-35 fighter jets offers lesson for Canada

  By Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International As the federal government embarks on a much delayed and criticized quest to find a replacement for its ageing fleet of CF-18 Hornet fighter jets, Norway's saga with the acquisition of F-35 stealth fighters offers Canada a valuable lesson. The search for a replacement for CF-18 got a new urgency Tuesday after a blistering report by Canada's auditor general, who lambasted the Liberal government's handling of the file that could have serious implications for Ottawa's ability to fulfill its NATO and NORAD obligations. Just like Ottawa, Oslo was one of the first NATO countries to show interest in the new stealth multirole fighters developed by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin. In June 2009, the Norwegian Parliament decided that the F-35A Lightning II would replace its current fleet of F-16 fighter jets. Unlike Ottawa, despite strong internal opposition, Oslo saw things through. By 2025, Norway hopes to have a fleet of 52 F-35s.​ No-show at Trident Juncture demonstration Norwegian authorities were hoping to showcase their newest and most expensive defence acquisition in the country's history at a massive display of NATO's military might during the official launch of Trident Juncture 2018 exercise on Oct. 30. But much to the chagrin of dozens of journalists, NATO officials and dignitaries that had assembled on the shores of the Trondheim Fjord in central Norway to watch the display of land, sea and air power, the Norwegian F-35s never showed up. Lt.-Col. Stale Nymoen, commander of the 332 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force and one of the first Norwegian pilots to learn to fly the F-35s, said strong crosswinds at the Ørland Air Base forced officials to cancel the planned overflight. The cancellation of the overflight on an otherwise perfect autumn day had nothing to do with the jet's capabilities, Nymoen said. “Seen from my perspective, it's one of the best fighter aircraft out there,” Nymoen told a roomful of journalists during a briefing at the Ørland Air Base in central Norway earlier this month. But it has taken even experienced pilots like him years to learn to fly the new fighter jets and, just as importantly, unlearn old habits, Nymoen said. Learning to crawl before walking Norway received its first four F-35s in January of 2017. But all of them were stationed at the Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, where Norwegian, U.S. and Italian pilots trained on the new aircraft. It wasn't until November of 2017 that the stealth fighter jets actually arrived for service in Norway, at the Ørland Air Base, which is going through a massive infrastructure upgrade to house the new planes. Operating and flying them in Norway with its harsh North Atlantic and Arctic climate is a whole new experience, Nymoen said. “What is different from Luke when we train to operate the aircraft here is temperatures, winter, icy and slippery runways, winds,” Nymoen said. “Those are conditions that we don't necessarily get to train for when we're training in the United States.” And the Norwegian air force is taking a very cautious approach to avoid any accidents, he said. “We have to learn to crawl before we can walk, and we have to learn to walk before we can run,” Nymoen said. The first squadron of F-35s is expected to reach initial operational capability in 2019 and full operational capability only in 2025, eight years after the aircraft were delivered to Norway. This timeline would also apply to Canada, if Lockheed Martin were to emerge as the winner of the competition to buy 98 advanced aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force announced by the Liberal government last December. The list of eligible suppliers identified by the federal government also includes France's Dassault Aviation, Sweden's SAAB, the U.K.'s Airbus Defense and Space, and the U.S. defence and aerospace giant Boeing. If the federal government manages to stick to its timetable, a contract award is anticipated in 2022 and the first replacement aircraft delivered in 2025. This means that the current fleet of Canadian CF-18s and the 18 additional second-hand Australian F-18s the federal government is buying as a stopgap measure will have to operate until at least 2030, experts say. http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/11/21/norway-f-35-fighter-jets-offers-lesson-for-canada

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  November 21, 2019 | Local, Naval

  Why the Australians are better at buying new warships than Canadians: report

  Andrea Gunn (agunn@herald.ca) OTTAWA, Ont. — Canada could have a thing or two to learn from the Australians when it comes to buying warships, a new report claims. Ian Mack, a retired rear admiral and director-general in the Department of National Defence, released a paper via the Canadian Global Affairs Institute on Friday shedding light on what he believes are some key mistakes in the way Ottawa has handled the $60-billion procurement of a new fleet of frigates. Mack has a unique perspective. He served in his DND role from 2007 to 2017 and was responsible for the conception, shaping and support of the launch and implementation of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, including the initial stages of the Canadian surface combatant competition. In 2017 Mack was selected by the Australian government to join an international expert advisory panel for their Future Frigate Program as it moved into its competitive evaluation process. In the paper, Mack points out the similarities between the two countries: they embarked on the procurement process at about the same time, they both sought to break the boom-and-bust cycle of shipbuilding, and ultimately they would both end up selecting BAE's Type 26 global combat ship as their preferred design. But the differences, Mack says, are what have encumbered Canada's process, and why the Canadian government took three years longer to go from government approval to design selection than the Australians, In the paper, Mack points to excessive red tape, inexperience among officials working on the project, and a general lack of drive to change the process to make it more efficient and cost-effective. For example, the Australian government made the decision up front to restrict the competition to three shipbuilders and their warship designs, whereas Canada only required shipbuilders to qualify to compete, which over 10 of them did. The initial request for proposals for the Canadian surface combatant also included hundreds of mandatory technical requirements characterized in great detail which proved problematic and led to an eventual overhaul of the process. In comparison, for Australia's future frigate, there were only a few mandatory requirements of any kind with further guidance provided to bidders via a question and response process. Mack also pointed out that in Canada, the project management office was about the same size as in Australia but entirely drawn from the public service and the Canadian Armed Forces, with a significant number of team members having little or no applicable industry experience or knowledge, whereas in Australia, the office was populated by knowledgeable contractors. The Canadian government, Mack concludes, has traditionally worn blinders when it comes to executing complex procurement projects. “It takes a serious investment of effort to study what others are doing,” he writes. “One useful place to start is by comprehensively exploring other nations' approaches to identify gems we might adopt and trial before we need to buy warships again.” https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/why-the-australians-are-better-at-buying-new-warships-than-canadians-report-377148/

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  November 28, 2017 | Local, Aerospace

  Presagis Teams with j2 Aircraft Dynamics for Flight Modeling Solution

  November 28, 2017 – Montreal, Canada – Presagis™, a recognized leader in simulation software and solutions, is proud to announce that it has teamed up with j2 Aircraft Dynamics to offer a new turnkey aircraft simulation model development service. Responding to an increased demand from customers developing aircraft simulation systems based on Presagis' FlightSIM, HeliSIM or CRAFT simulators, Presagis is pleased to join forces with the UK-based company known for its proprietary j2 Universal Tool-Kit. The combination of Presagis' powerful aircraft systems and aerodynamic modeling tools along with j2 Aircraft Dynamics' expertise and technology will allow customers to greatly accelerate their time to market while increasing the fidelity of their simulation models. “Whether customers start off from an original equipment manufacturer data package, or an instrumented flight test data, or from scratch, one of the most challenging aspects of building a high-fidelity simulation model is tuning hundreds of parameters — each with its own slight but definitive effect on the final result,” explains Stéphane Blondin, Presagis' Vice President of Product Management and Marketing. Through its application of core mathematical and aeronautical principles, and by allowing multiple test points to be analyzed at once, j2 brings fully automated flight test data matching capability and can help reduce the effort needed to match flight test data by more than 50 percent. “Customers often come to us looking to independently develop data packages. Sometimes they do so because of budgetary reasons, or sometimes it's because the data is not available for an older aircraft or for an aircraft still in development,” said Stephane Roy, Simulation Product Manager at Presagis. “What they often underestimate,” adds Roy “is the complexity of the aerodynamic envelope of an aircraft and how to best converge towards a flight model that meets their requirements. The expertise and technology that j2 Aircraft Dynamics bring to the equation will definitely avoid many headaches for customers who do not necessarily have experience tuning flight models. Even those with past experience will appreciate the productivity boost brought by the combined approach.” Through this collaboration, Presagis continues to innovate in order to help customers with the challenges they face on a daily basis. By streamlining workflow, reducing time to market, and increasing the fidelity and realism of their simulation models, Presagis remains steadfastly committed to building the solutions and tools their customers need. About Presagis Presagis is a global leader providing commercial modeling, simulation and embedded software solutions to the aerospace, defense and security, and critical infrastructure markets. Presagis combines an open simulation development framework with expert professional services to help customers streamline development workflows, reduce project risks, and deliver game-quality immersive simulations. Presagis is also at the forefront of avionics software design for certifiable cockpit displays. The company serves hundreds of customers worldwide, including many of the world's most respected organizations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, BAE Systems, and CAE. For more information, visit www.presagis.com. For further information: Stéphane Blondin, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing, Tel: +1 514 999.5481, E-Mail: Stephane.Blondin@presagis.com About j2 J2 Aircraft Dynamics Ltd is a UK based company that is sells its own proprietary software, the j2 Universal Tool-Kit, as a whole aircraft aerodynamic modelling, analysis, flight test planning and flight matching, simulation, aircraft accident investigation and analysis software tools that is built on a single, sustainable non-legacy framework. Engineers/designers are finding that using j2 Software can unlock value in existing legacy code blocks as well as accelerate the aircraft design life-cycle. The state of the art aircraft modelling capability embedded in j2 software allows engineers to ‘fly' their designs and put a pilot in the loop at a much earlier stage in an aircraft design process. Learn more at www.j2aircraft.com . https://www.presagis.com/en/press-center/detail/presagis-teams-with-j2-aircraft-dynamics-for-flight-modeling-solution/