April 30, 2020 | Local, Aerospace
A recognizable face in the Kanata North business community has left the tech park to join a “startup” of a very different kind.
Deborah Lovegrove, who spent more than five years as the head of marketing at the Kanata North Business Association, recently moved on to a new position as the marketing and media manager at Peraton Canada. Most of the aerospace and defence firm's Canadian operations are in Calgary, but last fall the company opened a new business development branch in downtown Ottawa.
While Lovegrove's name is well-known in local business circles, the company she's joining might be a bit less familiar to casual observers of the aerospace and defence industry.
But Peraton comes with an impressive pedigree. Its parent company, Harris Corp., was a dominant player in the sector for more than a century before it merged with fellow aerospace firm L3 Technologies last year to form L3Harris Technologies.
When Harris sold its Harris Corporation Government Services business to Veritas Capital in 2017, Veritas changed its new acquisition's name to Peraton. The company now refers to itself as a “125-plus-year-old startup.”
With more than 3,500 employees and annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion, the Virginia-based firm is quickly making its own mark in the aerospace realm. Peraton has partnered with government agencies such as NASA and Canada's Department of National Defence to provide supply chain management, engineering solutions and maintenance and repair services on a range of projects in the space, defence, cybersecurity and communications fields.
The company is involved in a number of high-profile projects in this country, including an effort to commercialize advanced drone systems as well as bids from Boeing and Saab to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging fleet of F-18 fighter jets – a contract with a total value of nearly $20 billion.
Lovegrove, whose 25-year marketing career also includes stints in government and other non-profit trade organizations, said the new job gets her back to an industry that fascinated her when she managed marketing and promotional activities for the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute in 2013 and 2014.
“It was tough to leave (the KNBA) because I'd been there almost six years,” Lovegrove says. “But I was definitely looking for some sort of change. It was time to try a new challenge.”
With the range of opportunities in Peraton's project pipeline, Lovegrove said the chance to get back into the aerospace industry was too good to pass up.
“I'm a skydiver. Anything to do with planes and speed is something that I find particularly fascinating,” she says with a laugh. “They're working on some really cool projects right now.”
March 22, 2021 | Local, Naval
OTTAWA, Ontario — Team Cohort, a team of autonomous industry experts comprising Kongsberg Geospatial, Four DRobotics Corp and SeeByte, has been awarded a contract from Weir Marine Engineering to develop and test a Maritime Multi-Domain Control System (MMDCS), Kongsberg Geospatial said in a...
October 9, 2018 | Local, Naval
Thales has invested in Canada-based Virtual Marine's embedded ship simulation system as part of a new multi-phase research and development project. With an investment of more than $315,000, the project will involve development of a ship simulator for use across a range of platforms and projects in both naval, coastguard and commercial applications. Primarily it will support advanced platform testing and integration requirements for the Royal Canadian Navy programmes such as Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships and Joint Support Ships In-Service Support (AJISS). Virtual Marine chief technical officer and executive vice-president Randy Billiard said: “The Ship Simulator Research project will result in a more innovative and technologically advanced ship simulator software product that will build on existing simulation technologies to enhance integration support and training options for prime defence integrators. “It will be tested by users who understand the need to properly de-risk systems for safe and full operational integration. This project will further position Virtual Marine as a leading and innovative provider of marine simulation solutions.” The research project will leverage Thales's extensive software engineering expertise and capabilities in big data, connectivity, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to upgrade baseline technology. The 12-month project will help provide the company with improved embedded navigation simulation capabilities support. In August last year, Thales received a C$800m AJISS contract from the Government of Canada to provide in-service support, refit, repair, maintenance and training to the Canadian Navy's Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) and Joint Support Ships (JSS). https://www.naval-technology.com/news/thales-invests-ship-simulation-system/
January 17, 2020 | Local, Aerospace
Maxar announced it signed a definitive agreement to sell its Canadian business, MDA, to Northern Private Capital (NPC). You can read the details in our press release. I would like to assure you that MDA is committed to continuously delivering the high-quality of service that our customers expect. Maxar and MDA will continue normal operations through the expected close of the transaction, which we believe will happen within 12 months, after the standard U.S. and Canadian regulatory approval. After the close, the MDA team will operate as a private, stand-alone company within NPC's portfolio, retaining its name and standing as the leading space and defence company in Canada. MDA will remain an important business partner and supplier to Maxar, and Maxar will be MDA's largest customer. Additionally, the companies will continue to sell each other's complementary satellite data. NPC is a Toronto-based investment firm led by John Risley and Andrew Lapham. It has created a Canadian investment fund to finance this transaction. NPC views Canada's renewed commitment to utilizing space for its civil and defence needs as a strong opportunity to bring MDA home to Canada. MDA will remain dedicated to its work for the Canadian government and as a merchant supplier to the international community. Maxar's leadership team and Board of Directors believe this transaction best positions Maxar for growth in the future. Once closed, it will enable Maxar to reduce its debt load and focus on substantial growth opportunities in its core markets of Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure. And likewise, MDA will be able to focus on capturing large, Canadian programs in the future, in addition to addressing commercial and export markets.