Defence spending needs to double to meet NATO target by 2032: PBO

On the same subject

• 

  May 16, 2023 | Local, Other Defence

  Canadian Armed Forces donate $6.5 million in equipment to the Lebanese Armed Forces

  May 16, 2023 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces On April 26 2023, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) held a ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon, where $6.5 million in non-lethal equipment was donated to the LAF. Equipment donated included snowshoes, trekking poles, snowmobiles, first aid kits, utility task vehicles, explosive ordnance disposal equipment and solar panels. This equipment will support the LAF and is in addition to the training that the CAF has provided throughout the year, including training in combat first aid, civil-military co-operation, and winter warfare techniques. Since 2016, the Canadian Training and Assistance Team – Lebanon (CTAT-L) has provided specialized equipment donations to the LAF and trained over 2,000 LAF personnel as part of its enduring mission to contribute to security and stability in the region, under the mandate of Operation (Op) IMPACT. Canadian Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic, Stefanie McCollum; Deputy Commander of Op IMPACT, Colonel Jay Lachine; LAF Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations, Brigadier-General Hassan Jounieh; as well as several other senior CAF and LAF officers and non-commissioned officers, attended the donation ceremony. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2023/05/canadian-armed-forces-donate-65-million-in-equipment-to-the-lebanese-armed-forces.html

• 

  March 15, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Call for Foreign Comparative Testing Proposals - Spring 2021

  The Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering's Global Capability Programs Office scans for vendors in foreign countries that have innovative technologies that speak to: The US Department of Defense's Technology Modernization Priorities, including: AI; Biotechnology; Autonomy; Cyber; Directed Energy; FNC3 (Fully Networked Command, Control, and Communications); Microelectronics; Quantum Science; Hypersonics; Space; 5G; Readiness and Joint Lethality in Contested Environments; Technologies satisfying urgent operational needs on a relevant fielding schedule; and/or Technologies that provide significant life cycle savings. Interested vendors may send their product data sheets and an FCT template to Colonel Stephen MacDonald, Defence Cooperation Attaché at the Embassy of Canada to the United States, at Stephen.MacDonald7@forces.gc.ca NLT 30 April 2021. A blank FCT template and an example of an FCT template are attached. Colonel MacDonald will compile the data sheets and FCT templates, and will forward them to the Global Capabilities Program Office. The Global Capabilities Program Office will then disseminate the vendor product data sheets and the FCT templates to the U.S. Armed Services and Agencies to gauge their interest. The Global Capabilities Program Office will inform Colonel MacDonald of the technologies that have peaked the interest of the U.S armed services and agencies. The vendors of these technologies will be asked to prepare a 20-minute presentation (including questions and answers) on their innovative technologies. We are aiming to schedule the presentations for the last week of May. The plan for the presentations will be announced under separate cover. Following the presentations, U.S. armed services and agencies will contact vendors if they continue to have an interest in their technologies. At that point, the discussions will take place directly between the U.S. armed services/agencies and vendors. An information session from the Global Capabilities Program Office and U.S. Armed Service representatives may be held near the end of April, and is pending confirmation. The intent of the information session will be to provide an overview of the FCT program/process and the needs of U.S. armed services and agencies. Details of the information session will be announced under separate correspondence. In the meantime, a presentation on the FCT program can be found here. Questions may be addressed to Colonel Stephen MacDonald, Defence Cooperation Attaché, at Stephen.MacDonald7@forces.gc.ca and Mr. Bobby Tate, Trade Commissioner, Defence and Security, at robert.tate@international.gc.ca.

• 

  October 30, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Ottawa releases draft tender on purchase of new fighter jets

  Murray Brewster · CBC News It's the first sign of movement on the file since the competition was launched almost a year ago The effort to replace the air force's aging fleet of CF-18 fighters took a small step forward Monday when Public Services and Procurement Canada released a draft tender and asked for feedback from the makers of new jets. There are five companies in the running: France's Dassault Aviation; Saab of Sweden; Airbus Defence and Space out of Britain; and Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the U.S. The manufacturers will have about eight weeks to comment on various aspects of the proposed tender before the government finalizes the document. A full-fledged request for proposals is not expected to be released until the new year. The department said input from the manufacturers "is critical to the overall success of this procurement and for selecting the right fighter aircraft to meet Canada's needs." A slow process It has been almost a year since Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan formally "launched" competition to replace the CF-18s, which were originally purchased in the 1980s but have received significant upgrades in the decades since. At the same time, Sajjan also announced the federal government would buy used Australian F-18s of the same vintage as Canada's current fighter fleet. That purchase is meant to serve as a stopgap to ensure the air force can meet its NATO and NORAD commitments at the same time. The Liberal government is looking to buy 88 new jets, but the first ones aren't likely to arrive until the mid-2020s. The competition among manufacturers for Canada's business is expected to be fierce. Lockheed Martin will pitch its F-35 stealth fighter, which the former Conservative government was prepared to buy until the auditor general criticized both Public Works and National Defence in 2012. The AG said, among other things, that the departments had not done enough homework to justify the multi-billion-dollar purchase. Boeing is in line to offer the Super Hornet — a larger, more advanced version of the F-18 — but the Chicago, IL.-based company and the Liberal government traded blows last year in a dispute over passenger jets and Bombardier. The Liberals initially had planned to buy Super Hornets as a stopgap instead of the Australian fighters, but cancelled the purchase because of the dispute. Advantage: Europe? Airbus plans to offer its Eurofighter Typhoon. Saab will pitch the latest version of its Gripen, while Dassault has the Rafale. The European aircraft-makers all privately expressed optimism about the competition last spring at an Ottawa defence industry trade show. For years, Canada has been seen as favouring U.S. manufacturers because of what the military called "interoperability issues." But recent trade disputes and political tensions between Ottawa and Washington have given contractors outside of North America a morale boost. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-releases-draft-tender-on-purchase-of-new-fighter-jets-1.4882570