David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
Federal officials are setting the stage to award Irving Shipbuilding contracts to build two more Arctic and offshore patrol ships but the vessels will be delivered to the Canadian Coast Guard instead of the navy.
Irving has been warning the Liberal government it might have to lay off employees at its Halifax shipyard if it doesn't get more shipbuilding work. Industry and defence sources say to deal with that issue a proposal is being put together that would see the construction of two more Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships, known as AOPS.
Irving is currently building six AOPS for the Royal Canadian Navy.
But under this new plan, described by government officials as being at a “pre-decision” level, the vessels would be turned over to the coast guard.
The additional ships would help head off any layoffs at Irving and allow the Liberal government to head into the federal election in the fall claiming it was delivering on its promise to rebuild the coast guard.
The Liberals have yet to sign off on the plan, the sources added.
Ashley Michnowski, a spokeswoman for Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough, said the national shipbuilding strategy or NSS is designed as a “made-in-Canada plan” to meet federal shipbuilding requirements. “Additional AOPS are currently not included in the NSS,” she added.
Irving Shipbuilding did not respond to a request for comment.
The NSS was supposed to prevent the boom and bust in the country's shipbuilding industry by providing Seaspan on the West Coast and Irving on the East Coast with continual work.
But that hasn't happened. Even though the government is proceeding with the ships outlined in the NSS, both Seaspan and Irving have complained they might have to let employees go because of gaps in construction schedules.
Irving has said it needs addition work to deal with a downturn that comes after the end of construction of AOPS and the start of work on a new fleet of surface combatant ships.
The Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships project was for the construction of five vessels. A sixth ship would be built only if Irving could find savings in the construction process, according to the federal government. That, however, didn't happen.
In November the Liberal government announced it would award Irving a contract for a sixth AOPS as part of its efforts to stop layoffs. That $800-million initiative is double the usual cost of a single AOPS as there are hefty fees associated with stretching out the production of the fleet.
It is unclear how much extra a plan to build two more AOPS would cost.
If the plan does proceed there would have to be changes made to the design of the ship as the AOPS are outfitted with weapons and a combat management system for the navy.
The AOPS program has made headlines over the years. The first Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship was supposed to be delivered in 2013 but the program has faced delays, and it is now expected to be delivered to the navy this summer.
In March, Postmedia sent Procurement Canada questions about potential issues with welds on the ships. But the department immediately warned Irving that the news organization was asking questions. Department officials also provided Irving with personal information about the journalist inquiring about the welds.
Procurement Canada never did answer the questions but a short time later Irving Shipbuilding threatened a lawsuit against Postmedia if an article was published claiming there were substantial problems with welds on the ships.
The Department of National Defence later confirmed to the news chain there were issues with welds but they were minor.
October 29, 2024 | Local, Land
Members of the Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) (FDU(P)) have returned to Victoria, B.C., after participating in Multinational Mine Warfare Exercise 24 (MN-MIWEX 24), hosted by the Republic of Korea Navy from October 14-25, 2024, off the coast of Busan, South Korea.
January 28, 2021 | Local, Aerospace
BY NATASHA MCKENTY | JANUARY 28, 2021 Estimated reading time 14 minutes, 58 seconds. Brandon Robinson's Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Top Aces fighter pilot exploits compare to those of a protagonist in a blockbuster movie. After graduating from the Royal Military College of Canada with First Class Honours, his career quickly skyrocketed from frontline fighter squadron to being selected for the prestigious Fighter Weapons Instructor Course (FWIC) – the Canadian version of Top Gun. He obtained an MBA at Royal Roads University, and then did a tour in Ottawa where he “managed over $4 billion in procurement projects for the Fighter Force.” He spent the next few years instructing for FWIC. “Think ‘Viper' from the movie Top Gun,” he laughed. I then completed our Joint Command and Staff College program for those flagged for senior leadership.” While instructing for FWIC, Robinson earned the CF-18 fighter pilot instructor role at 410 Squadron in Cold Lake, Alberta, leading into oversight of CF-18 Fleet Tactical Standards, and then onto senior project management with a deputy director role in multiple Air Force projects. Robinson is modest. He credits his competitive nature “and a lot of luck” for his success. “I fully acknowledge that without exceptionally talented and competitive friends, I would not have passed, let alone have been fortunate enough to fly jets,” he told Skies. He found Military College to be physically and emotionally demanding, having a way of teaching you your limits and how to “be at peace with them.” Despite the challenges, he was one of the top five engineers in the program all four years. For Robinson, aviation was innate. His grandfather, RCAF Capt Eric Robinson was a Second World War bomber pilot. His father, Brian Robinson, began flying at the age of 14, but his hopes of joining the Air Force were grounded when he learned his vision wasn't good enough. “My father was very young when he and [my grandfather] built from scrap metal what is now a family airplane — an old RC-3 Republic Seabee aircraft.” Brian retired from his day job to turn the family hobby into a successful custom aviation engineering business. There was always “an army of airplanes” in and around Robinson's home. The first time Robinson piloted a plane, he was three years old. His grandfather let him sit in the seat in front of him. “I couldn't sit. I had to stand,” he laughed. “He said, ‘OK, you have control, so take us over there.'” That experience “made an imprint” for Robinson. After high school, much to his “mother's chagrin,” he joined the RCAF to “fly fast jets.” After military training, “there's a big [graduation] ceremony where they hand out the slots, and I remember looking at the card and seeing the CF-18 symbol on the bottom,” he said. Internally, he was bursting. Not surprisingly, when asked about the memorable moments of his career, he said it's difficult to choose. Robinson recalled, after being on the Squadron for just three months in Bagotville, Quebec, he was deployed to Hawaii for a joint exercise with the U.S. Navy. “The U.S. Navy has this big exercise, and the Canadians were asked to go,” he said. “So, we ferried CF-18s across the country, from Quebec to Comox, British Columbia. We overnighted, met up with an aerial refueler and then the next thing I know I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, tanking off a refueler. There's a portion where, if you can't get gas, you're going to have to eject because you can't get back to land. I'm a 27-year-old kid who only has 200 hours of experience in this CF-18, and I'm over the middle of the ocean thinking, ‘OK, you better make this happen.' It's not the easiest maneuver either,” he laughed. Robinson shared the story of how he earned his call-sign: Repo. “I was flying, and my left engine essentially blew up; one of the main turbine hubs fractured. It severely crippled the aircraft, placing it into a reversionary control architecture. The engine was destroyed, and the aircraft was on fire,” he said. After 10 “very long seconds” of being “out of control,” he “dealt with the fire” and regained control. “I was able to land it safely back at the base. However, it was too badly damaged to fix. So, the joke was that the government had to repossess or repo it,” he laughed. “The damaged engine almost fell out when I landed.” He remembered flying low-level over the ocean while “shooting missiles at drones and dropping bombs on remote-controlled moving ships; being in front of 100 angry fighter pilots leading a NATO coalition strike mission; [and] early morning departures over Torrey Pines in California to dogfight over the ocean.” In 2018, with 20 years of service and a list of neck and spine injuries in his rear-view, he knew it was time to find adrenaline elsewhere. “You can't pull seven-and-a-half Gs for 20 years without hurting a few things,” he laughed. Leaving, he admitted, was a difficult decision, but entrepreneurship was also on his radar. The kid that grew up in rural Ontario, Canada, with an “army of airplanes” at his disposal and a military career most would envy, headed out to his next call of duty. He joined forces with his father to start Horizon Aircraft, an aerospace startup that is currently developing the Cavorite X5 — a new eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) design for the urban air mobility market. Horizon has been developing the Cavorite X5 for the past two years. The concept for the X5 came from the company's initial prototype, the X3 — an amphibious design with a hybrid electric power system. “When we were asked to push the performance even further, we naturally began investigating distributed electric propulsion and the potential for eVTOL modification of the core X3 concept,” explained Robinson. “That's how the X5 The five-seat Cavorite X5 is powered by an electric motor coupled with a high-efficiency gas engine, but is ultimately built for fully electric flight. Horizon is building the aircraft to fly at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, with a 450-km range. The focus is to produce an aircraft “able to do real work in harsh environments,” including disaster relief, medevac, air cargo and personnel transport. Today, Robinson has his hands full with multiple patents pending, including a “fan-in-wing design” that would allow the Cavorite X5 to fly either like a conventional aircraft or an eVTOL when required. The X5 “flies like a normal aircraft for 99 percent of its mission,” said Robinson. The wing design “allows the aircraft to return to normal wing-borne lift after its vertical portion is complete; when moving forward, the wings close up and hide the vertical lift fans.” Horizon is working towards a large-scale prototype it hopes to have flying by the end of 2021. Robinson has become comfortable fielding questions based on skepticism. He's built an army of support from his highly-skilled network, including Virgin Galactic test pilot and close friend, Jameel Janjua. “Our team is extremely experienced, formed out of my father's previous custom aviation engineering business. We also have an individual leading the technical development who has designed, built and tested two novel aircraft designs from scratch. https://skiesmag.com/news/first-class-fighter-pilot-evtol-entrepreneur
October 8, 2023 | Local, Land, Security
Denmark's defence ministry aims to restart ammunition production after a 55-year gap to ensure its domestic supplies as the war in Ukraine creates increased demand for military hardware across Europe.