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September 26, 2022 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

Canadian military faces shortage of recruits: `We are in an applicant crisis’ - National | Globalnews.ca

Recruitment cratered during the first year of COVID-19 as the military shuttered recruiting and training centres, in which only 2,000 people were enrolled in 2020-21.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9154586/canadian-military-shortage-of-recruits/

On the same subject

  • Cyber-warfare could be entering a new and alarming phase, ex-CIA analyst tells MPs

    February 7, 2019 | Local, C4ISR, Security

    Cyber-warfare could be entering a new and alarming phase, ex-CIA analyst tells MPs

    Murray Brewster · CBC News Online attacks on Canada's financial system could become far more destructive as more militaries around the globe get involved in cyber operations, a security expert and former CIA analyst told a House of Commons committee Wednesday. Christopher Porter, the chief intelligence strategist for the cyber security company Fireeye, Inc., testified that as NATO countries share their expertise on how to defend against and defeat online threats, "major cyber powers outside the alliance" will likely do the same. The consequences, he said, could be dire. The West's imposition of sanctions on "some countries" has in the past been met with denial-of-service attacks on financial services websites, he said — attacks that have only been disruptive. "In the future, they may respond with destructive attacks aimed at permanently disabling financial services or altering data in ways that undermine trust in the global financial system, such as by delaying or impairing the trustworthy settlement of collateralized government debt," Porter said. "For countries sufficiently sanctioned and therefore increasingly outside that financial system anyway, there is little incentive not to do so during a confrontation." Where the threat comes from He did not name the countries he believes pose an imminent threat, but North Korea, Russia and Iran are widely known to possess sophisticated cyber capabilities and — in some cases — loose associations with groups of private hackers. The Commons public safety committee is studying security in the financial sector. Wednesday's hearing focused on online threats. "I am gravely concerned about the militarization of cyber operations," said Porter, who spent nearly nine years at the CIA and served as the cyber threat intelligence briefer to White House National Security Council staff. "(The) proliferation of cutting-edge offensive cyber power, combined with an increased willingness to use it with minimal blowback and spiraling distrust, has set the stage for more disruptive and destabilizing cyber events, possibly in the near future." The cyber espionage threat Canada faces is still "moderate," said Porter, but his organization has noted at least 10 groups from China, Russia and Iran that have targeted Canada in the last few years. His grim assessment was echoed by another private sector expert who appeared before the committee. Jonathan Reiber, head of cybersecurity at Illumio, an American business data center, said most of Washington's efforts to get everyone to step back from the cyber-warfare brink have gone nowhere. He also suggested that online militarization was inevitable. "Adversaries have escalated in cyberspace, despite U.S. efforts at deterrence," he said. The United States, Canada and other western nations must take a more aggressive stance to deter cyber aggression by "defending forward" and conducting offensive cyber operations to disrupt hacking, Reiber said. The Liberal government's defence policy, released in June 2017, gave the Canadian military permission to conduct those kinds of operations. "Nation states have the right to defend themselves in cyberspace just as they do in other domains," Reiber said. Mutual defence Determining the point at which a online attack provokes a real world military response is something that NATO and many western countries have been grappling with over the last five years. The alliance has a mutual assistance clause, known as Article 5, which requires NATO nations to aid an ally under attack. Liberal MP John McKay, head of the public safety committee, asked whether NATO's decision-making mechanisms are nimble enough to keep pace with cyber attacks. Porter said he believes the system is sound. The challenge, he said, is to get all allies on the same page. "I think a bigger issue is who is going to call for such a response and under what circumstances," he said. "In the States, I think, you're always waiting for a cyber Pearl Harbour destructive event." Such a massive attack is still less likely than a series of smaller events, he said, "a death by a thousand cuts" that might not rise to the level of provoking allies. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cyber-warfare-could-be-entering-a-new-and-alarming-phase-ex-cia-analyst-tells-mps-1.5008956

  • Failed bidder files trade challenge against Ottawa's frigate design pick

    November 23, 2018 | Local, Naval

    Failed bidder files trade challenge against Ottawa's frigate design pick

    Murray Brewster · CBC News Move comes after Alion Canada challenged frigate design pick in Federal Court The federal government's decision to select a group of companies led by Lockheed Martin Canada to design and support the construction of the navy's new frigates is now facing a trade challenge, on top of a Federal Court challenge filed last week. Alion Science and Technology Corp. and its subsidiary, Alion Canada, have asked the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to look into the procurement deal. They're telling the tribunal that Lockheed Martin's design will need substantial changes to meet the federal government's requirements, which would mean higher costs and more delays. The company last week separately asked the Federal Court for a judicial review and an order quashing the decision, which saw Public Services and Procurement Canada select Lockheed Martin Canada as the preferred bidder on the $60 billion program. Alion pitched the De Zeven Provinciën Air Defence and Command (LCF) frigate, a Dutch-designed warship that is already in service in other countries. More delays? Depending upon how they play out, said defence procurement expert Dave Perry, both challenges have the potential to further delay the frigate program. Federal procurement officials had hoped to nail down a fully fledged design contract with Lockheed Martin by the winter. Perry, who works with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said he expects those negotiations to continue — unless the Federal Court orders them to halt. "Unless there is a compelling reason to stop, they are going to keep going," he said. "There is a recognition of the urgency across the board." That urgency is partly due to the program's legacy of delays, which have stretched the design competition out for almost two years. Public Services and Procurement Canada would not comment on the matter because it is before the courts, but a senior official, speaking on background Thursday, said the federal government has up to 20 days to respond to the court challenge. The official — who was not authorized to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the file — said there is flexibility built into the timeline and the government is optimistic it can meet its goal of an early 2019 contract signing. Perry said there are aspects of both the court challenge and the application to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal that he finds puzzling. Alion claimed in its court filing that the winning bid was "incapable of meeting three critical mandatory requirements" of the design tender. Speed bump The company said, for instance, that the Type 26 cannot meet the mandatory speed requirements set out by the navy and that both Public Services and Procurement Canada and Irving Shipbuilding, the yard overseeing the construction, should have rejected the bid outright. Perry said the criteria cited by Alion were among the first the federal government evaluated. "The rest of Lockheed Martin's bid wouldn't have been looked at if the Crown and Irving was not satisfied that the bid met each of those [initial] criteria," he said. "It's a weird dynamic." Alion's trade tribunal application argues in considerable detail that in order for the Type 26 to meet Ottawa's speed requirement, it will have to undergo considerable redesign. The court application also cites the fact that the design tender was amended 88 times and those changes "effectively diluted the [warship] requirements" and allowed the government and Irving to select "an unproven design platform." Unlike its two competitors, the Type 26 has yet to enter service with the Royal Navy. Competitors have privately knocked it as "paper ship." Navantia, a Spanish-based company, was the other bidder in the competition. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/failed-bidder-files-trade-challenge-against-ottawa-s-frigate-design-pick-1.4916881

  • Canadian aerospace renews call for defence industrial strategy - Skies Mag

    August 31, 2023 | Local, Aerospace

    Canadian aerospace renews call for defence industrial strategy - Skies Mag

    Associations representing defence and aerospace sectors are urging the government to develop a defence industrial strategy to foster long-term growth.

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