May 31, 2019 | Local, Aerospace
David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
A Swedish aerospace firm that hopes to supply Canada's new fleet of fighter jets says it could build the aircraft in this country, making maximum use of the expertise of domestic firms and creating high-tech jobs.
Saab's pitch to build its Gripen E fighter jet in Canada further ups the ante on the $19-billion competition that will see the federal government purchase 88 new aircraft.
The Liberal government has been emphasizing the transfer of new technology and expertise to Canadian aerospace firms as well as the creation of high-tech jobs as among its key goals for the fighter jet program.
Another European firm, Airbus, has hinted it could also build its Typhoon fighters in Canada, but Saab said if the federal government wants the planes built on a domestic production line its commitment is solid.
For the Canadian program, Saab is hoping to follow the same process that helped it win a recent fighter jet competition in Brazil. The first batch of Gripen E fighter jets are being built in Sweden but the technology is then being transferred to Brazilian firms so they can assemble the remaining aircraft.
Certainly if that is what the customer values for Canada that is something that we can easily do
“We think that is the model that makes sense for Canada,” Patrick Palmer, senior vice-president of Saab Canada, told Postmedia. “We're going down that path but we're also looking at how the (request for proposals) is written and what the customer values. Certainly if that is what the customer values for Canada that is something that we can easily do.”
Aerospace firms have been told that the federal government will request their proposals in mid-July.
The fighter jet competition was launched on Dec. 12, 2017 and at this point four aircraft are to be considered. Those include the F-35, the Super Hornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Gripen.
The Gripen E is the newest of the fighter jets being offered to Canada. The first Gripen E for the Swedish military is expected to be delivered later this year. The first of the 36 aircraft ordered by Brazil in a $5-billion program will be delivered in 2021.
The first delivery of jets for the Canadian program is expected in the mid-2020s with the full capability available in the early 2030s, according to documents produced by the Department of National Defence.
The issue of industrial benefits for Canadian companies will have a high profile in the competition.
In early May the Canadian government told potential bidders it was making changes to its fighter jet competition to allow the U.S. to enter the F-35 stealth fighter.
The changes, which industry sources say allow for a more flexible approach in determining the value of industrial benefits for the competition, came after a series of discussions with the U.S. government and threats by the Pentagon to withdraw the F-35 from consideration.
Canada is a partner nation in the development of Lockheed Martin's F-35, and U.S. officials had warned that the agreement Canada had signed prohibits partners from imposing requirements for industrial benefits as firms from those nations compete for work on the jets. Over the last 12 years, Canadian firms have earned more than $1.3 billion in contracts to build F-35 parts.
Per Alriksson of Saab Aeronautics said the Gripen is designed specifically for operations in the Arctic, giving it a leg up on other planes. “Sweden has air force bases in what you call the far North,” he added. “We operate there daily. (The Gripen) has Arctic DNA built into it.”
Alriksson said the Gripen E can operate from remote airfields in the north, landing and taking off on runways less than 800 metres in length. It has a quick turnaround time for missions, with technicians able to reload and refuel the planes in 10 minutes. “It is pretty good in operating in dispersed locations as you have in Canada,” he added.
Alriksson said the company can integrate U.S. and other equipment on the Gripen E so it is interoperable with American forces, another consideration for Canada. “Moving forward with the Gripen E, we see no problem whatsoever to integrate that fighter into a NORAD context.”
August 15, 2023 | Local, Aerospace
In episode 20 of the Pilot Project Podcast, Paul Hodgson shares his advice for successfully joining the RCAF as a pilot.
April 22, 2020 | Local, C4ISR, Security
Posted on April 22, 2020 by Lisa Gordon As news of the novel coronavirus – first identified in Wuhan, China in late December – began to percolate its way through the mainstream news media, a few staff members at Ornge, Ontario's air medical transport provider, began to take notice. “It piqued our interest quite early on, since many of us had been through SARS [in 2003],” said Justin Smith, chief flight paramedic. “We began to figure out what PPE we had and what would be required to move forward.” Canada's first case of the novel coronavirus, later named COVID-19, was reported on Jan. 15, 2020. Subsequent cases occurred gradually through the end of February, all among travellers who had returned to Canada from countries affected by the virus. The number of Canadian cases increased sharply in March, and that's when Ornge activated its pandemic plan. Smith was outlining the organization's response during a webinar hosted by the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) on April 21. Moderated by association president and CEO, Cameron Curtis, the discussion was billed as a town hall meeting focused on the Canadian air medical community's pandemic response. In addition to Ornge, representatives from Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) and B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) participated in the panel. Ornge, which operates 13 bases across Ontario with a mix of rotary, fixed-wing and land-based patient transport assets, has so far moved 209 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients. Overall, 57 per cent were moved with land vehicles, 24 per cent with the Pilatus PC-12 fixed-wing fleet and 19 per cent with its Leonardo AW139 helicopters. So far, the total number of missions Ornge is performing has dropped by about 35 to 45 per cent across the board. Medical director Dr. Michael Peddle attributed that decrease to the cancellation of non-urgent elective procedure transports as well as about a 10 per cent decline in urgent cases compared to last year. Communication has been critical to developing Ornge's pandemic response. Smith said a joint clinical/operational committee has been formed and meets daily to tackle questions that come up about personal protective equipment (PPE), for example, or the way paramedics carry out clinical procedures. Added Peddle: “We discuss active challenges within the fleet. We write operations clinical guidelines – a living document for all frontline staff including aviation AMEs [aircraft maintenance engineers] and paramedics. It outlines operational management processes, PPE, decontamination etc. One of the things we've found very important is communication with frontline staff.” Ornge has implemented weekly town hall meetings for all staff, where some clinical and operational information is provided and questions are answered. In addition, an internal web page provides further resources. “From a process perspective, we've made some changes to our pairings and our staffing to make sure we have capacity if we have issues with our workforce being sick or unable to attend work,” said Peddle. Overall, staffing has been adequate to this point, but Ornge has built a plan for surge management to help it meet the needs of communities across Ontario, if required. While all Ornge employees are screened when they come to work, the patient transport provider has also rolled out some additional skills, said Peddle, including prone ventilation and expanded rapid sequence intubation. A standing item on the organization's checklist is an evaluation of current PPE standards. Ornge medical staff wear gowns, gloves, face shields and eye protection, in line with Ontario guidelines. “One of the mainstays of our approach has been do what you know and do it perfectly,” Smith commented. “We instituted PPE donning and doffing checklists and created a PPE utilization flowchart. As we know in transport medicine, where you don and doff your PPE can vary. We found the flowchart reduced anxiety because it provided rules, including for the pilot group.” While fixed-wing pilots have a high rate of PPE “burn,” it's much lower with rotary-wing. Helicopter pilots don't usually have to help with patient onboarding due to the AW139's self-loading stretcher system. Keeping safe is the priority Ornge is not the only air medical provider who has noticed an overall drop in missions during the pandemic. STARS operates a fleet of Airbus H145, BK117 and Leonardo AW139 helicopters from three bases in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan and one in Manitoba. STARS has been slowly acquiring new H145 aircraft since April 2019, and plans to replace its BK117 and AW139 fleet with a total of nine H145s. “We're actually seeing a decreased mission volume,” said Dave Evans, senior director, Clinical Services, STARS. “We're still transporting urgent patients, the typical heart attacks and strokes we would typically transport. ILI [influenza-like illness]-type transports account for 13 per cent of mission volume right now.” Fortunately, COVID-19 spread in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba has been below some of the predictive models, he added, and hospitals aren't necessarily overwhelmed yet. STARS has so far transported two confirmed COVID-19 patients since the numbers shot up about a month ago. “With the cancellation of pro sports . . . things got really busy within that first week, with the amount of info needing to be shared and the learnings coming out from Europe and China,” recalled Evans. “It became evident we needed to start a small group just to field all those questions from our crew. So we started the COVID Communications Working Group right away. Our role was to support our chief medical officer to make sure we're following best practices, medical evidence, provincial guidelines across the three provinces. Keeping safe was the priority.” The working group has been sending out frequent communications, both written and video, twice a week. STARS is lucky to have 100 per cent staffing right now, despite a dip in the beginning of the pandemic related to mandatory post-travel isolation. Staff are currently checked for symptoms before each shift, including temperature screening, with documentation required before crews can enter hospitals. Luckily, PPE procurement has been relatively painless and the organization is adjusting usage parameters in accordance with emerging evidence. The COVID Communications Working Group is being led by Dr. Jamin Mulvey, incoming STARS Calgary medical director, who also participated in the webinar. He was working in the U.K. with London Air Ambulance and returned to Canada early in the pandemic. “The biggest challenge is that with a lot of information out there, it's rapidly changing practices and emerging guidelines,” said Mulvey. “We're dealing with a lot of opinion and low-level evidence, and we're trying to sift through it effectively and make robust guidelines for our group. “Some areas that have been a little bit challenging is the discussion on what exactly is an AGMP – or aerosol generating medical procedure – and with non-invasive ventilation strategies, what are the relative risks of AGMP compared to, say, intubation.” STARS has moved away from non-invasive and high flow procedures on its helicopters unless absolutely necessary, based on very strict guidelines and discussion with the on-duty transport physician. Procedures are constantly being evaluated and adjusted where necessary, for both medical staff and flight crews. Jenny Thorpe is a flight nurse who handles stocking and preparedness ordering for the STARS base in Saskatoon, Sask. “Being on the front lines and directly involved in patient care, it's been a learning curve for myself and our crews,” she told the group. “A month ago, there was a high anxiety level. But we've worked as a group and with our leadership, just taking it one day at a time and realizing this isn't a fast process. It's a journey that won't be over quickly.” Thorpe said the team has found success by focusing on the little things that will keep them safe during a mission, such as following strict PPE donning and doffing procedures for medical crew as well as pilots. She is also an advocate of practice drills. “You can talk about PPE and being prepared, but if you haven't prepared and simulated it, you're going to miss steps. I encourage everyone to simulate caring for a COVID patient. “It's about slowing things down, making sure you're making your decisions with purpose and not reacting.” There is no emergency in a pandemic In Canada's westernmost province, the BCEHS team is following the same steady, purposeful path. “When we're doing a call, we've emphasized there is no emergency in a pandemic,” commented Dr. Steve Wheeler, BCEHS medical director, Critical Transfers and Aviation Medicine. “It all comes down to crew safety. We don't rush into it; we plan and make sure everything is set up. We don't run positive pressure other than intubation. If the patient needs to be intubated for the flight, our threshold is very low, we'll have them intubated in the sending facility. We try to methodically plan out the whole trip.” With six air bases throughout the province, BCEHS has also noticed call volumes have declined by about 30 per cent. “We're not doing the regular amount, we're doing one to two COVID transfers per day that are spread between rotor, fixed-wing and ground transports,” said Wheeler. He said the B.C. team's Australian manager established a network of about 15 global air medical organizations early on in the process. They met three times a week by Skype “to try to prepare for PPE, crew safety, medical procedures, how to ventilate or oxygenate patients in flight, etc. That was extremely helpful for us.” To prepare for a possible surge, BCEHS paused its paramedic training and released the instructors for work, placing some senior and junior students into station support roles. The organization examined available PPE options and decided to adopt Tyvek suits, which has decreased the PPE “burn” rate. The service also purchased 3,000 silicone half-mask respirators with reusable canisters and face shields. Educating its pilots was a high priority for BCEHS. They were heavily trained on donning and doffing PPE; they wear gowns instead of Tyvek suits. Wheeler said the pandemic has delivered several lessons to the province. “For us, this has highlighted to government and health authorities the need to improve and increase the capacity of our inter-facility transfers. Government announced yesterday they will provide five new aircraft. In every pandemic or catastrophe, sometimes there is opportunity.” https://www.skiesmag.com/news/canadas-air-medical-transport-providers-say-collaboration-communication-are-keys-to-pandemic-response
January 16, 2019 | Local, Naval
HONG KONG, Jan. 15, 2019 /CNW/ - Seaspan Corporation (NYSE: SSW) ("Seaspan") announced today the closing of the second tranche of the $1 billion aggregate investment commitment by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited and its affiliates (collectively, "Fairfax") in Seaspan. As with Fairfax's initial $500 million investment in Seaspan, and pursuant to definitive agreements entered into on March 13, 2018 and announced on March 14, 2018, this second tranche of funding (the "Second Fairfax Investment") is structured as a $250 million issuance of (i) 5.50% senior notes due 2026 and (ii) approximately 38.46 million warrants (the "2019 Warrants"). Pursuant to a definitive agreement entered into and announced on May 31, 2018, Fairfax has agreed to immediately exercise the 2019 Warrants at an exercise price of $6.50per warrant, for additional equity proceeds to Seaspan of $250 million. As a result, Seaspan's aggregate proceeds from the Second Fairfax Investment will be $500 million. This brings Fairfax's total investment in Seaspan to $1 billion, the proceeds of which will be used to fund future growth initiatives, repay debt and for general corporate purposes. With the closing of the Second Fairfax Investment, Fairfax's aggregate shareholdings in Seaspan are 76.9 million Class A common shares or approximately 36% of shares outstanding. Fairfax continues to hold the 25 million seven year warrants, with an exercise price of $8.05, which were issued to it on July 16, 2018. Summary of Fairfax Investments1 Investment Date Issued/Exercised Proceeds to Seaspan 2025 Notes February 14, 2018 $250 million 2018 Warrants July 16, 2018 $250 million 2026 Notes January 15, 2019 $250 million 2019 Warrants January 15, 2019 $250 million 1 Does not include the 25 million seven year warrants outstanding as of the date hereof David Sokol, Chairman of Seaspan Corporation commented, "The closing of this follow-on Fairfax investment bolsters Seaspan's balance sheet for the future. Seaspan's management team and Board of Directors are proud to continue building upon the strong partnership created with Fairfax. This additional investment will enhance Seaspan's ability to execute on our long-term goals of deleveraging, strengthening our balance sheet, and creating value through disciplined and thoughtful capital allocation." Prem Watsa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax said, "With the closing of this investment, we are excited to expand our partnership with Seaspan, which now represents one of Fairfax's largest investments." About Seaspan Seaspan is a leading independent charter owner and operator of containerships with industry leading ship management services. We charter our vessels primarily pursuant to long-term, fixed-rate, time charters to the world's largest container shipping liners. Seaspan's operating fleet consists of 112 containerships with a total capacity of more than 900,000 TEU, an average age of approximately 6 years and an average remaining lease period of approximately 4 years, on a TEU-weighted basis. Seaspan has the following securities listed on The New York Stock Exchange: Symbol: Description: SSW Class A common shares SSW PR D Series D preferred shares SSW PR E Series E preferred shares SSW PR G Series G preferred shares SSW PR H Series H preferred shares SSW PR I Series I preferred shares SSWN 6.375% senior unsecured notes due 2019 SSWA 7.125% senior unsecured notes due 2027 SSW25 5.500% senior notes due 2025 About Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited Fairfax is a holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and investment management. Investor Inquiries: Mr. Matt Borys Investor Relations Seaspan Corporation Tel. +1-778-328-5340 Email: mborys@seaspanltd.ca SOURCE Seaspan Corporation https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/seaspan-announces-closing-of-second-500-million-investment-by-fairfax-financial-holdings-limited-848167000.html