On the same subject

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  November 12, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land

  Ottawa on track to invest less on new military kit than promised for second year

  OTTAWA — For the second year in a row, the federal government is expected to spend billions of dollars less on new military equipment than promised because of a combination of good and bad news: cost savings on some projects and delays in others. The Trudeau government in 2016 released a new defence policy that included dramatic increases in spending on new aircraft, ships, armoured vehicles and other military equipment over the next 20 years. The investments are vital to replacing the Canadian Forces' fighter jets, ships and various other types of aging equipment with state-of-the-art kit. Yet while new budget documents filed in the House of Commons show the Department of National Defence has so far been given authority to spend $4 billion this fiscal year, the policy had predicted total spending of $6.5 billion. The department does have until March 31 — when the federal government's fiscal year ends — to make up the $2.5-billion difference, but its top civilian official, deputy minister Jody Thomas, admitted Thursday that a large shortfall is likely. Part of the reason is that the department expects to save about $700 million on various projects that ended up costing less than planned, Thomas told The Canadian Press following a committee appearance on Parliament Hill. “We've delivered things more efficiently than was anticipated and so we don't need the money,” she said. “And we can apply it to projects, either new projects or projects that have a cost overrun.” But delays moving some projects through the military procurement system have also caused their fair share of problems, Thomas said, and the department is expecting to have to put off $1 billion to $1.3 billion in purchases it had planned to make this year. “We'd like to (spend) $6 billion every year. Can I guarantee to you that we're going to do that? No, there's slowdowns in projects, there's slowdowns with suppliers, there's changes in scope. Things change,” she said. “I'm hoping to get it below $1 billion. I'm not committing to getting it to below $1 billion. ... We're driving projects to get it as low as possible and spend funds efficiently and effectively. We're not wasting money.” The government spent $2.3 billion less than planned last year. That was also largely because of delays in projects such as the government's multibillion-dollar plan to buy new warships, though also because some things ended up costing less than expected. The government does deserve credit for having increased investments in equipment to levels not seen since the height of the war in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “And if they can actually move as much as the deputy (minister) was saying, and they only leave $1 billion on the table, that will be the best year in the last several decades,” said Perry, who has previously warned that delays in the procurement system could derail the defence policy. “But there are a bunch of impacts from not being able to spend money on schedule. One is you don't have the actual gear to do what you want. And project budgets lose purchasing power when money is not spent on schedule. So it's not good to have delays.” https://windsorstar.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/ottawa-on-track-to-invest-less-on-new-military-kit-than-promised-for-second-year

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  January 7, 2022 | Local, Naval

  Lockheed Martin Canada names new general manager for RMS

  Glenn Copeland has been appointed general manager for the Lockheed Martin Canada Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business area.

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  December 31, 2018 | Local, Security

  Chief of the Defence Staff says natural disasters pose ‘significant threat’ to Canadians

  By Amanda Connolly National Online Journalist Global News There are not many military threats that directly loom over Canadians as the country heads into the new year. But of those that do, one of the most significant is the increased frequency of major natural disasters. In a year-end interview with the West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance said while there are a number of threats that are evolving and taking shape, one of the most concrete ones the military is facing right now comes from Mother Nature herself. “There are very few large military threats to Canada,” he said. “There are certainly threats that are evolving right now that can reach Canada, be they missiles or threats against our cybersecurity, threats to our oceans and to our shores. We face a significant threat almost every year now with natural disasters, forest fires and floods and so on that affect Canadians. So in our role to defend Canada and protect Canadians, that's been significant.” The military gets called in to help with the response to natural disasters when those disasters overwhelm provincial authorities, which have the first responsibility to respond when things like floods, forest fires or ice storms hit. Military responses to natural disasters happen under what's known as Operation Lentus. In 2018, the military deployed to six natural disasters after provincial authorities in all cases determined the scale of the damage was too much for them to handle alone. Those disasters included the winter storms in Eastern Quebec and the Iles-de-la-Madeleine in November, sending hundreds of soldiers and transport aircraft to assist with evacuations from the B.C. and Manitoba forest fires and deploying to take on the heavy spring flooding in B.C., New Brunswick and on the Kashechewan First Nation. Forest fires and severe flooding saw the military also respond to six disasters last year. Both represent sharp increases compared to years past as climate change continues to cause more extremes that result in the droughts, storms and thaws behind things like dangerous forest fires and floods. In 2016, for example, the military only deployed once: to the devastating Fort McMurray wildfires. They deployed twice in 2015, four times in 2014, once in 2013, three times in 2011 and once in 2010. In addition to continuing to deploy to missions overseas, the added demands on responding to disasters at home mean the military will need to increase recruitment or start to feel the strain, Vance said. And in an uncertain world, the circumstances around those missions continues to evolve. Most recently, Russia attacked three Ukrainian naval vessels passing through the shared territorial waters of the Kerch Strait. Dozens of Ukrainian sailors on those ships were detained by the Russians as prisoners of war. Vance said while that kind of aggression from Russia doesn't directly impact Canadians deployed in the ongoing training mission in Ukraine, it does factor into considerations of what they are ultimately going to be able to achieve. “It raised the stakes somewhat,” he said. “It hasn't affected this mission Operation UNIFIER at this juncture, but it doesn't point to a peaceful and ultimate resolution of Ukraine that we'd like to see.” The 24 detained Ukrainian sailors have yet to be released. © 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. https://globalnews.ca/news/4785907/jonathan-vance-canadian-forces-natural-disasters/