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July 17, 2024 | Local, Land, Security

Equalization, NATO spending dominate premiers’ meeting

B.C. Premier David Eby backed Newfoundland and Labrador’s legal challenge of the federal equalization payment program, while Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called on the federal government to meet NATO’s two per cent spending target “within the next four years.”

https://www.ipolitics.ca/news/equalization-nato-spending-dominate-premiers-meeting

On the same subject

  • The decline of Canada’s defence aviation industry

    January 5, 2021 | Local, Aerospace

    The decline of Canada’s defence aviation industry

    By RICHARD SHIMOOKA If the government is serious in its desire to sustain the aerospace, and defence aerospace industry, it must do so through a well-reasoned and resourced strategy. Of all sectors, aerospace has been among the hardest hit in the global economy to date. This not only includes airlines, but manufacturers and maintainers—with decreased orders and reductions in maintenance, repair, and overhaul work due to reductions in service, which has knock-on effects for the rest of the economy. Aerospace is arguably among the most vibrant industrial sectors in the Canadian economy—with high levels of R&D spending and export revenues. Until recently, Canada was a top-five civil aerospace producer internationally, though its position has slid in the past several years. https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/12/30/the-decline-of-canadas-defence-aviation-industry/277088

  • Canada Needs New Aircraft, Could The F-35 Fit The Bill?

    February 21, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

    Canada Needs New Aircraft, Could The F-35 Fit The Bill?

    As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. by David Axe Follow @daxe on TwitterL Key point: Canada, like Switzerland, likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. Canada for the third time in a decade is trying to replace its aging F/A-18A/B Hornet fighter jets. With every year the acquisition effort drags on, the condition of the Royal Canadian Air Force's fast-jet fleet grows direr. “The politically-charged competition to replace Canada's aging fleet of fighter jets will rocket forward at the end of May [2019] as the federal government releases a long-anticipated, full-fledged tender call,” Murray Brewster reported for CBC News. Four companies are vying for the multibillion-dollar contract for as many as 88 fighters that would replace the RCAF's 1980s-vintage Hornets, which in Canadian service are designated “CF-18.” Saab, Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin all are in the running, respectively offering the Gripen, Eurofighter, F/A-18E/F and F-35A. The manufacturers will have until the end of 2019 to submit bids, CBC News reported. But the RCAF hardly can wait. The RCAF acquired 138 F/A-18A/Bs from McDonnell Douglas starting in 1982. In early 2019, 85 of the original Hornets, all more than 30 years old, comprise Canada's entire fighter fleet. The Canadian Hornets are unreliable and lack modern systems. In 2010, Canada's Conservative Party government announced plans to acquire 65 new F-35 stealth fighters by 2020. But the government never fairly compared the F-35 to rival fighter types such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Auditor General of Canada concluded in a 2018 report. "National Defense did not manage the process to replace the CF-18 fleet with due diligence." In 2015, Liberal Party candidate Justin Trudeau made the F-35 a major issue in his campaign for prime minister. Trudeau won. And in 2017, Ottawa backed off its proposal to purchase F-35s and, instead, launched a new competition to acquire 88 fighters. The aircraft would enter service in 2032, meaning the old Hornets would have to continue flying 12 years longer than the government originally planned. Ottawa briefly considered acquiring 18 F/A-18E/Fs from Boeing in order to bolster the early-model Hornets, but the government canceled the plan during a U.S.-Canada trade dispute in 2017. Canada was left with its original Hornets. In December 2017, the government announced it would spend around $500 million buying up to 25 1980s-vintage F/A-18s that Australia was declared surplus as it acquired its own fleet of new F-35s. The RCAF would add some of the Australian Hornets to the operational fleet and use others as sources of spare parts. But the government has no plan to keep its Hornets combat-ready as they enter their fourth and even fifth decade of service." We found that the CF-18 had not been significantly upgraded for combat since 2008, in part because [the Department of] National Defense expected a replacement fleet to be in place by 2020," the government auditors found. "Without these upgrades, according to the department, the CF-18 will become more vulnerable as advanced combat aircraft and air-defense systems continue to be developed and used by other nations." Against this backdrop, Brewster assessed the current fighter contenders, in particular, the Swedish Gripen and the American F-35. “There has been a rigorous political and academic debate about whether Canada should choose a legacy design from the 1990s, such as the Gripen, or the recently-introduced Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter,” Brewster wrote. “The Swedish air force is about the same size as the Royal Canadian Air Force,” Brewster pointed out, adding that Sweden and Canada also share geographic concerns. “The Gripen is intended for operations in rugged environments, such as Sweden's Arctic region,” Brewster wrote. “Canada's CF-18s occasionally operate from forward bases in the north, but those deployments are infrequent compared with the routine activity of the Swedes.” As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. The Gripen lacks the radar-evading stealth features that in theory allow the F-35 to penetrate the most dangerous Russian-made air-defenses. But Brewster cited a March 2019 Swedish study that claimed Russian defenses are less fearsome than many observers believe. “Besides uncritically taking Russian data at face value, the three cardinal sins have been: confusing the maximal nominal range of missiles with the effective range of the systems; disregarding the inherent problems of seeing and hitting a moving target at a distance, especially targets below the horizon; and underestimating the potential for countermeasures against [anti-access area-denial]-systems,” Robert Dalsjo, Christopher Berglund and Michael Jonsson explain in their report "Bursting the Bubble." The stakes are high. If Canada fails a third time to buy a new fighter, it might find itself in the same unfortunate situation in which Switzerland has found itself. In April 2019 the Swiss air force is down to just 10 ready fighters with full-time pilots. The crisis is the result of the Swiss public's decision in a 2014 referendum to reject the air force's proposal to buy 22 new fighters to begin replacing 40-year-old F-5 Tigers. The Swiss air force in 2019 plans to remove from service 27 Tigers. The 26 Tigers that remain will perform limited duties. With the F-5 force shrinking and flying part-time, the Swiss air force increasingly relies on its 30 F/A-18C/Ds. To last that long, the F/A-18s need structural upgrades. The upgrade work has sidelined more than half of the Hornet fleet. Switzerland like Canada has relaunched its fighter competition. The same companies and designs that are competing in Canada, plus Dassault with the Rafale, are in the running in Switzerland. Intensive flight testing began in April 2019. Canada like Switzerland likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. The old Canadian Hornets probably won't last much longer. "The CF-18 will be disadvantaged against many potential adversaries, and its combat capability will further erode through the 2020s and into the 2030s," Ottawa's auditors warned. David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels War Fix, War Is Boring and Machete Squad. (This first appeared last year.) https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/canada-needs-new-aircraft-could-f-35-fit-bill-125556

  • Have your say on Winnipeg's police helicopter

    November 2, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Security

    Have your say on Winnipeg's police helicopter

    The Winnipeg Police Service wants to know what you think of the helicopter and is conducting a survey to find out. The survey kicks off Wednesday. Residents will be called at random, in all areas within the City of Winnipeg. The survey is expected to take less that 15 minutes to finish, a news release says. There is also a survey online, which closes on Nov. 21. The police force issued a request for proposals to review their flight operations program in March. On July 12, MNP was awarded a contract to complete it. Air1, the name of the police chopper, has become a common sight in the skies over the city, and the WPS has praised its value numerous times since it first took flight in 2011. However, its original operating cost rose from $1.2 million yearly to $1.8 million in 2015, and the city recently replaced the chopper's infrared camera to the tune of $560,000. The province was set to launch an independent review in 2016, but a change in funding the following year cancelled that review, said police. The police service had promised to conduct its own independent assessment to find out whether the cost of maintaining and flying Air1 is worth the price, as well as to see whether it fits the city's strategic plans. With files from Bartley Kives https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-police-flight-operations-review-1.4885688

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