F-35 Demonstration Team coming to Aero Gatineau-Ottawa air show

On the same subject

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  August 10, 2018 | Local, Land

  Saudis would only hurt themselves by cancelling Light Armoured Vehicle contract

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Saudi Arabia is expecting a full apology from Canada for a tweet that raised questions about human rights issues in the Middle East country. It is unlikely that would be coming anytime soon. So the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada continues. In recent days, Riyadh suspended diplomatic ties with Canada, expelled the Canadian ambassador and recalled its own envoy to Ottawa after Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and her department criticized the regime on Twitter for its arrest of social activists, demanding their immediate release. Angered by the condemnation, Saudi Arabia has also tried to sting Canada's economy by halting future trade and investment deals and by cancelling lucrative scholarships that would have seen 15,000 of its citizens study in Canada. One media report said Saudi banks and pension funds were ordered to sell off their Canadian assets, although that report remains unconfirmed. Bloomberg News has reported that any move by Saudi Arabia to stop new investments and unload assets in Canada is likely to have limited impact. Saudi assets in Canada are confined mainly to stakes in upscale hotel operators, some small stock holdings in companies like Canadian National Railway and grain facilities, Bloomberg noted. What is interesting is what Saudi Arabia hasn't done. It is still willing to sell oil to Canada and has not put any roadblocks on that money-making venture. The Saudi Press Agency confirmed Thursday that the “diplomatic crisis” wouldn't affect the kingdom's petroleum sales to Canada. But that has also raised questions in Canada about why we are buying oil from Saudi Arabia when we have such large reserves ourselves? The big question is whether the Saudis will withdraw from its $15 billion deal to buy Light Armoured Vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems of London, Ont.? It could happen but such a move would likely only hurt the Saudis. They need the vehicles and to negotiate a new contract with another arms supplier, plus get delivery of that equipment, could take years. Then there is the supply of parts and other support for the existing LAVs that the Saudis previously purchased from General Dynamics. Would shutting down all links to the LAV supply chain make sense for the Saudis? Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Thursday he was still unsure if the General Dynamics contract would be affected. Defence Watch submitted a series of questions to General Dynamics asking whether it would be halting production of LAVs destined for Saudi Arabia and would GD continue to provide spare parts for LAVs already delivered? “General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada declines to comment,” spokesman Doug Wilson-Hodge stated in an email. Full article: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/saudis-would-only-hurt-themselves-by-cancelling-light-armoured-vehicle-contract

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  October 25, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  An Investment in Capability

  If you're planning to become hopelessly lost, my advice is to do it in Norway. That was the author's conclusion after Skies was invited to the Leonardo Helicopters facility in Yeovil, England, to fly the latest variant of the AW101 search and rescue (SAR) helicopter. The machine was brand new, pending delivery to Norway, but represented a configuration that Leonardo has proposed to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an upgrade for Canada's fleet of CH-149 Cormorant SAR helicopters. AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE RCAF The CH-149 Cormorant entered RCAF service in 2002. While not an old airframe by Canadian standards, the subsequent evolution of the model has left our version somewhat dated, and Leonardo maintains that obsolescence issues are beginning to adversely affect operational availability Team Cormorant is an industry consortium composed of Leonardo Helicopters, IMP Aerospace & Defence, CAE, GE Canada and Rockwell Collins Canada. The group's unsolicited proposal to the Air Force is intended to guard against creeping obsolescence and ultimately to reduce the cost of operating the helicopter. Under Team Cormorant's proposal, the RCAF would also acquire a training facility with a modern full-mission simulator, likely to be installed at 19 Wing Comox, B.C. The machine on offer to Canada is an extensively upgraded version of the RCAF's existing airframe, based upon the AW101-612 configuration; 16 of which are destined for Norway under its Norwegian All-Weather SAR Helicopter (NAWSARH) program. Team Cormorant's proposal to Canada also seeks to take advantage of nine former VH-71 Kestrel airframes from the cancelled U.S. presidential helicopter program, acquired by the RCAF in 2011. These would be used to augment the Cormorant fleet from the current 14–widely acknowledged as inadequate for Canadian SAR requirements–up to potentially 21 machines. Enhanced fleet size would allow the RCAF to base the Cormorant at 8 Wing Trenton, Ont.; a move that would improve SAR capability in the vast Trenton SAR region. Compared to in-service CH-149 Cormorants, the upgrades on offer include new, more powerful, full-authority digital electronic-controlled (FADEC) General Electric CT7-8E turboshaft engines; a more modern Rockwell Collins cockpit and avionics suite; improved aircraft management system; and a newly designed, four-axis dual-duplex digital automatic flight control system (AFCS). The sensor package promises the biggest capability upgrade, and includes an electro-optical surveillance system; a multi-mode active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar; cell phone detection and tracking system; and marine automatic identification system (AIS) transponder receiver. AN OPPORTUNITY FOR COMPARISON In 2016, Skies dispatched me to fly the CH-149 Cormorant with RCAF's 442 Squadron at CFB Comox. It was an opportunity for this former Air Force CH-113/A Labrador SAR pilot to see first-hand how the Cormorant had changed the job I did decades ago in those same mountains. I recall that the Cormorant brought a lot of new technology to the SAR business, but the basic mission, like the mountains around us, was unchanged. After that flight, I reported: “Flying SAR was still a matter of cautious and skillful flying, using maps and looking out the window.” That experience left me with great regard for Air Force SAR crews and for the operational capability of the Cormorant, but also bemused to find that the business of searching still basically relied upon the “Mark 1 eyeball.” A flight in the latest variant of the AW101 was a terrific opportunity for a more contemporary comparison. The experience would demonstrate that leading-edge systems–particularly electro-optic sensor technologies–offer SAR capabilities that are as much a generational improvement over the current Cormorant as the Cormorant was over my beloved ol' Labrador. A CANADIAN FLIES A NORWEGIAN HELICOPTER IN ENGLAND Leonardo Helicopters test pilot Richard “Russ” Grant kindly offered me the right seat for our demonstration flight. Veteran flight test engineer (FTE) Andy Cotton served as sensor operator. Conditions were ideal, under a clear sky with a warm (24 C) gentle breeze along the century-old former-Westlands grass runway. Our test helicopter was the sixth production machine destined for Norway, operated by Leonardo under U.K. Ministry of Defence registration ZZ015. The helicopter's empty weight was 11,039 kilograms with much of its SAR interior yet to be fitted. Adding 2,000 kilograms of fuel (roughly half its 4,150-kilogram capacity) and three crewmembers brought the takeoff mass to 13,517 kilograms, which was well below the maximum allowable gross weight of 15,600 kilograms. The Cormorant that Skies flew with RCAF's 442 Squadron, although fully equipped for SAR with a standard fuel load of 2,400 kilograms and a crew of six, had a gross takeoff mass of 13,800 kilograms, which was below the maximum allowable gross weight of 14,600 kilograms. Direct comparison is difficult to establish, but the Norwegian machine is both heavier with installed systems and has more installed power than the CH-149, so the net result may be expected to be about the same operational power margin. Rapid dispatch can be facilitated by starting the auxiliary power unit (APU) while strapping in. Grant talked me through the engine starting procedure from memory. Air Force crews will use a checklist, but the procedure was quick and straightforward Engine controls consisted of three rotary knobs on the overhead panel in place of engine condition levers. I monitored the start, but Grant advised that in the event of a start-up malfunction the FADEC would shut down the engine faster than the pilots could react. We started the No. 1 engine first to power the accessory drive, providing hydraulic and electric power and bleed air. Starts of engines No. 2 and No. 3 were done simultaneously. Pre-flight checks and initialization of the aircraft management system (AMS, but think “master computer”) took Grant only minutes. Despite the functional similarity of the cockpit to the CH-149, the impression that I was amidst unfamiliar new technology was immediate. As ground crews pulled the chocks and busied themselves around the helicopter, the onboard Obstacle Proximity LIDAR System (OPLS, where LIDAR is light detection and ranging, since I needed to ask, too) annunciated their presence around the turning rotors. This system, which Grant described as being like the parking sensors in a car, provided a pop-up display and discretely-pitched audio cues depicting the range and azimuth to obstacles around the helicopter. Having come from a generation where we squinted into a landing light beam to guesstimate rotor clearance from obstacles, all I can say is, I want one! Full article: https://www.skiesmag.com/features/an-investment-in-capability

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  February 13, 2019 | Local, Naval

  MDA Selected for Design Phase of Canadian Surface Combatant Program

  RICHMOND, BC, Feb. 8, 2019 /CNW/ - MDA, a Maxar Technologies company (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR), today announced that Canada's Combat Ship Team was selected by Irving Shipbuilding for the design contract for Canada's Surface Combatant (CSC) ships. Irving Shipbuilding is the Canadian Surface Combatant Prime Contractor and will build all 15 ships at Halifax Shipyard. As a core member of the design team, MDA's primary role will be to design the Electronic Warfare suite system for the CSC program. The CSC is a globally deployable, multi-role warship designed to meet the distinctive mission requirements of the Royal Canadian Navy. MDA is partnered with other industry leaders including BAE Systems, CAE, Lockheed Martin Canada, L3 Technologies, and Ultra Electronics as Canada's Combat Ship Team to provide the Royal Canadian Navy the most advanced and modern warship design. Purposely designed for anti-submarine warfare and capable of performing a variety of missions in any part of the world, the CSC is acoustically quiet, versatile, highly survivable, and reconfigurable for future modernization. The most recent Canadian Defence Policy stated that 15 of these ships will be built in Canada over the next 25 years and will serve the Royal Canadian Navy for decades to come. "MDA is proud to play such a critical role in supplying systems and subsystems for the Canadian Surface Combatant program," said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. "Our low-risk, lower life-cycle cost CSC solutions are based on proven technologies and will enable Canadian security and peacekeeping operations around the world by providing advanced intelligence and protection for our brave sailors. These Canadian-built solutions further unlock enormous economic benefits and return on investment to the nation, particularly in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, as we seek to export these technologies globally in the years ahead secure our position as a global technology leader." This contract is for the CSC design phase within which MDA is responsible for the Electronic Warfare design. Over the life of the program, MDA expects to perform multiple roles on the Lockheed Martin Canada team for CSC. Work on four pivotal areas of the program would create more than 200 new, high-quality jobs in MDA's Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia facilities. MDA's roles include: Lead the Electronic Warfare system integration by procuring best-value subsystems for each functional element and providing an advanced Electronic Warfare solution for installation onto each CSC ship, leveraging MDA's deep Canadian expertise in project management, system engineering, electronics, antennas, signal processing and software. Build an advanced radar system critical to the integrated CSC weapons system, which is well positioned to be exported to the global naval market. Partner with L3 WESCAM to build a Laser Warning and Countermeasures System that is part of the overall Electronic Warfare system suite and will defend against emerging laser-guided threats that are particularly dangerous for the CSC and its crew in littoral environments. Partner with Lockheed Martin Canada to develop an advanced Electronic Warfare jamming subsystem, based on proven components and electronics similar to those used by MDA for both its space and terrestrial communications and radar programs. About MDA MDA is an internationally recognized leader in space robotics, space sensors, satellite payloads, antennas and subsystems, surveillance and intelligence systems, defence and maritime systems, and geospatial radar imagery. MDA's extensive space expertise and heritage translates into mission-critical defence and commercial applications that include multi-platform command, control and surveillance systems, aeronautical information systems, land administration systems and terrestrial robotics. MDA is also a leading supplier of actionable mission-critical information and insights derived from multiple data sources. Founded in 1969, MDA is recognized as one of Canada's most successful technology ventures with locations in Richmond, Ottawa, Brampton, Montreal, Halifax and the United Kingdom. MDA has supported the Royal Canadian Navy for over two decades. For more information, visit www.mdacorporation.com. About Maxar Technologies As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar Technologies is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. As a trusted partner, Maxar Technologies provides vertically integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. With more than 6,100 employees in over 30 global locations, the Maxar Technologies portfolio of commercial space brands includes MDA, SSL, DigitalGlobe and Radiant Solutions. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/mda-selected-for-design-phase-of-canadian-surface-combatant-program-836299961.html