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  April 5, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Calian Group Wins Royal Canadian Air Force Airworthiness Service Agreement Valued at up to $20M

  Ottawa, ON April 05, 2018 – Calian Group Ltd. (TSX: CGY) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a contract renewal worth up to $20 million in support of the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Airworthiness Program. Calian will provide highly skilled professionals with expertise in 66 different categories of aeronautics to help ensure Canada's military fleet flies safely and effectively. The first year of the contract starts immediately and will run to March 31, 2019. The contract award includes two additional option years, with an aggregate contract value of approximately $20 million over the three years. Calian is initially providing professional airworthiness, engineering and program support services through a team of about 30 specialists, including civilians and veterans. They will provide services in mechanical engineering, propulsion, electrical engineering, weapons safety and cybersecurity. To deliver these services Calian has again partnered with Valcom Consulting Group. “We are honoured to continue providing these critical safety and security services to Canada's military aircraft fleet,” said Donald Whitty, Vice President, Calian Training. “We've been providing this support to the Airworthiness Program for 24 years, which goes far beyond technical reviews and flight test reports. We're protecting flight systems from cyber threats and providing critical security services for weapons, communications and computer systems.” Calian is providing the RCAF with uniquely qualified experts who have sought-after signing authority to endorse changes and modifications to existing aircraft as well as assessments of newly acquired aircraft. RCAF aircraft use complex, interconnected systems, and under the Airworthiness Program any modifications must be reviewed, analyzed and tested to ensure flight safety is not compromised. "This contract win falls directly in line with the first pillar of our growth strategy – customer retention. Customers come back to Calian because of our successful record delivering mission critical services with high satisfaction ratings,” said Jerry Johnston, acting President, BTS Division. “As one of Canada's largest defence companies, I am very pleased to see Calian continue this important partnership supporting the safety of the men and women in uniform.” These Airworthiness services are critical to flight safety and operational readiness for new and modernized aircraft such as the Fixed Wing Search and Rescue Airbus C295W aircraft, Maritime Helicopter Project CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, CP-140 Aurora patrol, CH-146 Griffon helicopter, CH-147 Chinook helicopter, CH-149 Cormorant helicopter, CC-130 Hercules transport and CF-118 Hornet fighter. About Calian Engineering Calian offers full-spectrum systems engineering and technical services, supporting the Department of National Defence (DND), other government departments, and industry for over 30 years. Our engineers and technologists apply expertise in disciplines essential for system development, operation, and maintenance, with capabilities that offer full life-cycle support for soldier systems, major defence projects, electrical and electronic systems, computer systems, naval architecture, and aerospace systems. About Calian Calian employs more than 2,900 people with offices and projects that span Canada, U.S. and international markets. The company's capabilities are diverse with services delivered through two divisions. The Business and Technology Services (BTS) Division is headquartered in Ottawa and includes the provision of business and technology services to industry, public and government in the health, training, engineering and IT services domains. Calian's Systems Engineering Division (SED), located in Saskatoon plans, designs and implements complex communication systems for many of the world's space agencies and leading satellite manufacturers and operators. SED also provides contract manufacturing services for both private sector and military customers in North America. For investor information, please visit our website at www.calian.com or contact us at ir@calian.com Jacqueline Gauthier Media inquiries: Chief Financial Officer Simon Doyle 613-599-8600 613-599-8600 x 205 https://www.calian.com/en/calian-group-wins-royal-canadian-air-force-airworthiness-service-agreement-valued-20m

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  April 30, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

  Former KNBA marketing boss helping raise aerospace firm Peraton's profile in capital

  A recognizable face in the Kanata North business community has left the tech park to join a “startup” of a very different kind. Deborah Lovegrove, who spent more than five years as the head of marketing at the Kanata North Business Association, recently moved on to a new position as the marketing and media manager at Peraton Canada. Most of the aerospace and defence firm's Canadian operations are in Calgary, but last fall the company opened a new business development branch in downtown Ottawa. While Lovegrove's name is well-known in local business circles, the company she's joining might be a bit less familiar to casual observers of the aerospace and defence industry. But Peraton comes with an impressive pedigree. Its parent company, Harris Corp., was a dominant player in the sector for more than a century before it merged with fellow aerospace firm L3 Technologies last year to form L3Harris Technologies. When Harris sold its Harris Corporation Government Services business to Veritas Capital in 2017, Veritas changed its new acquisition's name to Peraton. The company now refers to itself as a “125-plus-year-old startup.” With more than 3,500 employees and annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion, the Virginia-based firm is quickly making its own mark in the aerospace realm. Peraton has partnered with government agencies such as NASA and Canada's Department of National Defence to provide supply chain management, engineering solutions and maintenance and repair services on a range of projects in the space, defence, cybersecurity and communications fields. The company is involved in a number of high-profile projects in this country, including an effort to commercialize advanced drone systems as well as bids from Boeing and Saab to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging fleet of F-18 fighter jets – a contract with a total value of nearly $20 billion. Lovegrove, whose 25-year marketing career also includes stints in government and other non-profit trade organizations, said the new job gets her back to an industry that fascinated her when she managed marketing and promotional activities for the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute in 2013 and 2014. “It was tough to leave (the KNBA) because I'd been there almost six years,” Lovegrove says. “But I was definitely looking for some sort of change. It was time to try a new challenge.” With the range of opportunities in Peraton's project pipeline, Lovegrove said the chance to get back into the aerospace industry was too good to pass up. “I'm a skydiver. Anything to do with planes and speed is something that I find particularly fascinating,” she says with a laugh. “They're working on some really cool projects right now.” https://www.obj.ca/article/techopia-former-knba-marketing-boss-helping-raise-aerospace-firm-peratons-profile-capital

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  July 26, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Viking to put special missions aircraft on tour - updates on defence industry developments

  By DAVID PUGLIESE Viking Air Limited of Victoria, BC has announced its plans to hold a world demonstration tour for its Guardian 400 aircraft, the special missions variant of the Viking Series 400 Twin Otter. The world tour will include detailed briefings and demonstration flights in Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, South East Asia, Oceania, and North America, according to Esprit de Corps magazine. The company unveiled the special mission variant last month at the 2019 Paris International Airshow. Here are more details of what I wrote for Esprit de Corps: For the past six months, a production Series 400 Twin Otter has been undergoing modifications to transform into Viking's Guardian 400 demonstrator aircraft for the proposed world tour, the firm noted. It will feature a left-hand SCAR pod with Hensoldt Argos EO/IR imaging turret, multi-spectral HDTV camera, mega- pixel HD Thermal imager, laser range finder, multi-mode auto tracker, and Remote Image Bus (RIB) video feed for display on the cockpit MFD or crew workstation. The demonstrator will also feature a right-hand SCAR pod with Leonardo Osprey Radar System and Sentient Vidar Camera system. In addition to its mission sensor package, the Guardian 400 prototype will be equipped with an Airborne Technologies' tactical workstation with high-definition touchscreen monitors, data/voice/video recorder, Mission Management Unit (MMU), mission radio communications, intuitive hand controller for MCU & SLR camera targeting, CarteNav AIMS mission system software, Kestrel MTI targeting software, and IKHANA ergonomic mission seat for optimized crew comfort. The prototype will also be equipped with Viking conformal bubble windows, left and right wing-mounted hard points by IKHANA, Thunder Bay Aviation stretcher racks, and an aft lavatory for crew comfort. The tour is expected to start in September. It will end in May 2020 at CANSEC 2020 to be held in Ottawa. Nexter has been selected by the Canadian government to supply the Canadian Army with 88 multi-purpose robots. The deal includes the delivery of 79 NERVA-LG and nine NERVA-XX robots. It is worth $6 million. The medium-sized robot can be controlled from any standard PC, tablet or smartphone, according to the company. Nexter Systems is the prime contractor and will work with Nexter Robotics and ECA Robotics. Deltic Group of Oakville, Ontario will handle in-service support. Leonardo announced that it has signed a contract with QinetiQ to provide a number of PicoSAR Active Electronically Scanned Array radars for the Canadian military's new drones. The firm noted that the PicoSAR radar is ideally suited for installation aboard the Canadian Forces new system, which is based on the lightweight UMS Skeldar V-200 Unmanned Aerial System. The radar will provide all-weather ground mapping and surveillance capability for missions. Seaspan Shipyards has awarded BCS Automation Ltd. a contract for work on the Canadian government's new Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV). BCS is the most recent supplier to partner with Seaspan in its work on the OOSV program. BCS is a family owned Canadian small business located in Belleville, Ontario, Seaspan pointed out. The firm is supplying a state of the art ship control and monitoring system for the OOSV. The system is designed to provide ship personnel with all the basic alarms and status information they require in order to maintain the safe and efficient operation of the machinery, auxiliary systems and other relevant equipment. The system features built-in self-diagnostics, an intuitive, user-friendly interface and a fail-safe redundant network to enhance safety and reliability. BCS has previous experience working on NSS projects having been subcontracted by Hawboldt Industries to design and build the winch drive system for the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV). Two NATO member nations have opted to purchase Rheinmetall's ROSY rapid smoke/obscurant system for protecting their vehicle families. This versatile modular system thus continues to expand its presence in the global force protection market. The two orders are worth several million euros. Delivery of 126 systems to Spanish defence contractor URO Vehículos Especiales S.A. (UROVESA) has already begun. UROVESA will be installing these systems in 126 out of 139 VAMTAC protected patrol vehicles purchased by the Portuguese armed forces in July 2018, according to Rheinmetall. Delivery of the systems will be complete in March 2020. Pre-series delivery in response to another order begins in May 2019, this time from Belgium. Here, Rheinmetall is acting as subcontractor for the British company Jankel, which is supplying the Belgian Army with the Light Troop Transport Vehicle, or LTTV. All 199 of the vehicles are being prepared for integration of the system, in addition to the supply of control units and launchers for 167 vehicles. Series production commences in February 2020 and will be complete the same year. These two orders mean that ROSY will soon be in service in no fewer than eleven countries. ROSY provides protection from surprise attacks by creating a wall of smoke/obscurant that renders vehicles invisible to the enemy. Unlike conventional smoke/obscurant systems, it not only produces an instantaneous, extensive, multispectral interruption in the line of sight, but also generates a dynamic smoke screen that provides moving assets with long-lasting protection. Ocean Industries Inc. will build four tugs for the Royal Canadian Navy. The firm from Isle‑aux-Coudres, Quebec, was awarded the contract for $102 million under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The new tugs will provide towing, firefighting and other critical support services to the Royal Canadian Navy. They will replace the navy's five civilian-crewed Glen-class large tugs and two Fire-class rescue boats. Two of the tugs will go to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in British Columbia. The other two will be delivered to CFB Halifax in Nova Scotia. The first two tugs are scheduled to be delivered in 2021. The last two tugs will be delivered in 2023. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/viking-to-put-special-missions-aircraft-on-tour-updates-on-defence-industry-developments