January 18, 2023 | Local, Aerospace
Casualty evacuation: Fine-tuning the RCAF’s CMERT capability
After developing and deploying aeromedical evacuation to Mali, the Canadian Armed Forces is training to make it an enduring capability.
April 22, 2020 | Local, Aerospace
OTTAWA — COVID-19 is presenting another challenge to Canada's long-running and tumultuous effort to buy new fighter jets.
The federal government last summer launched a long-awaited competition to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18s with 88 new fighter jets at an estimated cost of $19 billion. The move followed a decade of controversy and mismanagement by various governments.
The three companies still in the running are supposed to submit their bids at the end of June and, despite the pandemic, the federal procurement department insisted in an email to The Canadian Press that it still expects them to meet that deadline.
The three companies vying for the lucrative contract are Lockheed Martin and Boeing from the U.S. and Sweden's Saab. Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 while Boeing is pitching its Super Hornet and Saab is offering its Gripen jet.
Yet while representatives for the three companies say they are likewise plugging away at their respective proposals, a senior Boeing executive left the door open to asking the government for an extension as COVID-19 forces the company to adjust how it does business.
"It's challenging, there's no question about it," Jim Barnes, the Boeing executive responsible for trying to sell the company's Super Hornet jet to Canada, said in an interview on Tuesday.
"We want to make sure we put the most competitive offer on the table for the government of Canada to evaluate and we feel like we can put a very compelling offer. If we feel like we don't have time to finalize that competitive offer ... we would certainly ask for an extension."
The government has already approved one extension to the competition since it was launched last July. Companies were supposed to submit their final bids at the end of March, but were given three more months after Saab asked for more time.
Boeing continues to work closely with the U.S. government and navy on its bid and hopes to meet the current deadline, but Barnes said the pandemic has slowed things down as many staff work from home on a complex project with significant security considerations.
"Then you have to take into consideration the health of your subject-matter experts in those areas where there are just a few people that can really work up those responses," he said.
"Those kinds of things we're dealing with. I'm not sure if the other teams are dealing with that, but we are monitoring that and if we feel like we can't meet the deadline, we'll certainly consider an extension request as an option."
Representatives for Lockheed Martin and Saab were more confident in being able to meet the current deadline.
"Lockheed Martin remains prepared to provide a comprehensive proposal for Canada's future fighter capability project competition," Lockheed Martin Canada chief executive Lorraine Ben said in a statement.
"We have not requested an extension of delivery for the FFCP preliminary proposal and we are excited to share more about the F-35's ability to strengthen and modernize defence, enhance ally partnerships and contribute to economic growth in Canada."
Saab Canada president Simon Carroll expressed similar sentiments, saying in an interview that while there some challenges in preparing a bid during a pandemic, "we're certainly working towards that and are planning at this point in time to submit in accordance with that deadline."
Yet there are also questions about the government's ability to move ahead on the project even if the companies do get their bids in on time, given the majority of federal employees are working at home.
"Those submissions are going to have a combination of sensitive and classified information, and handling all that with a workforce, the majority of which is working from home, is going to be more difficult," said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
"I think as a basic bottom line, it is completely illogical to think that the impacts of COVID-19 won't be running through the entire suite of defence procurements because you can't work as efficiently with a huge chunk of your workforce at home."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2020.
January 18, 2023 | Local, Aerospace
After developing and deploying aeromedical evacuation to Mali, the Canadian Armed Forces is training to make it an enduring capability.
December 14, 2022 | Local, Aerospace
The proposal to buy between eight and 12 P-8 Poseidon aircraft from Boeing in the U.S. is being examined, according to industry and defence sources. But whether it moves forward to cabinet still has to be decided.
July 17, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
As outlined in Canada's defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, adapting and innovating quickly are crucial to developing and maintaining capabilities that address the challenges presented by today's evolving global defence and security environment. To this end, innovation, knowledge, and problem solving are essential for Canada and its allies to mitigate threats and meet evolving defence and security needs. In that context, the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program will foster creativity and ingenuity in Canada by enabling the creation of networks of experts, providing support and opportunities to innovators, and by facilitating the integration and adoption of new capabilities for the defence and security communities. Multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary teams, termed Micro-nets, are invited to submit research proposals on the following Innovation Challenge area from the defence and security community: · Autonomous Systems: Trust and Barriers to Adoption The IDEaS Second Call for Proposals for Innovation Networks will provide non-repayable contribution funding to seed and sustain Micro-nets of at least five investigators from a minimum of three separate institutions or organizations from the academic, non-federal government, public and/or private sectors. A Canadian university must administer the contribution funds. Full details are available in the Innovation Networks Application Guide. Micro-nets must propose interdisciplinary research programs aligned with the Innovation Challenge. Funding will be provided by the IDEaS Transfer Payment Program, a federal government contribution program administered by the Department of National Defence. The total budget for this call is $9,000,000. Each Micro-net can request up to $1,500,000 over three years. Co-funding is not mandatory, however participants from for-profit organizations will be required to contribute up to 50% of their costs. Important dates: Online portal for submission of Letters of Intent: opens July 16th, 2018. Deadline for submission of Letters of Intent: August 31st , 2018, 12:00 pm (noon) EDT. Deadline for submission of the Full Proposal: November 30th, 2018, 12:00 pm (noon) EST. An information session will be held in English on July 31st, 2018. To register for this session please click on the link https://gts-ee.webex.com/gts-ee/onstage/g.php?MTID=e0abbbd4d9021dd4ade9bbd3d109c4d38 by July 26th, 2018. Please visit our website to learn how to register and apply for this call, and for more information about IDEaS. You may also contact us by email at IDEaS-IN.IDEeS-RI@forces.gc.ca.