December 26, 2019 | Local, Naval
Murray Brewster
The Department of National Defence has faced some tough, pointed questions about whether it has chosen the right radar, main gun and close air defence systems for the navy's new frigates, which will soon hit the drawing board.
An unsolicited defence industry slide deck presentation, obtained by CBC News, questions each of those key components in the planned $60 billion modernization of the fleet.
It was circulated earlier this year and put in front of the senior federal officials in charge of the program.
The defence industry briefing presentation points out that the Lockheed Martin-built AN/SPY-7 radar system — an updated, more sophisticated version of an existing U.S. military system — has not been installed and certified on any warship. A land-based version of the system is being produced and fielded for the Japanese government.
The briefing calls it "an unproven radar" system that will be "costly to support," and claims it comes at a total price tag of $1 billion for all of the new ships, which the undated presentation describes as "an unnecessary expenditure."
Lockheed Martin Canada and British-based BAE Systems Inc. were chosen earlier this year by the Liberal government to design and help build 15 new warships to replace the country's existing patrol frigates — the backbone of the navy.
The briefing raises concerns about DND's choice of a main gun for the frigates — a 127 millimetre MK 45 described by the briefing as 30-year-old technology that will soon be obsolete and cannot fire precision-guided shells.
The briefing also singles out as inadequate the Sea Ceptor close air defence system, which is meant to shoot down incoming, ship-killing missiles.
Given the Canadian government's past missteps with military procurement — buying used equipment or opting for developmental systems that take years to get into service — a defence expert said the caution being expressed by the industry now is legitimate, but in some respects it's coming years too late.
"There's a risk anytime you try to do something new for the first time," said Dave Perry, an analyst who specializes in procurement at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
The navy struggled for years to get second-hand British submarines up to Canadian standards. The air force also sat on its hands while the manufacturer of the CH-148 Cyclone helicopters worked out all of the developmental bugs.
The presentation, Perry said, essentially tries to re-litigate decisions made by federal officials over three years ago, when the government's request for proposals was mapped out.
"This is calling into question whether the government set down [technical] markers in an appropriate spot or not," he said. "There is always the possibility that these issues can be revisited, but I think at this point the ship has sailed because a competition was run, it did produce a preferred bidder."
The pressure to get the new frigate design right is enormous, given the enormous expense involved and the changing nature of warfare, Perry added.
The briefing presentation apparently was circulated by a rival radar-maker which was not part of the bidding process. Federal officials declined to name the company.
Raytheon Canada Ltd. and its U.S. parent are among the biggest electronics and radar manufacturers in the world. A request for comment sent to their international business division went unanswered last week.
The concerns in the briefing were presented last summer to: Pat Finn, former head of materiel at DND; Andre Fillion, the assistant deputy minister of defence purchasing at Public Services and Procurement Canada; and Rear Admiral Casper Donovan, the navy's director general for "future ship capability."
DND confirmed the existence of the briefing presentation but refused to say who received it or which defence contractor was pushing it.
"It is not uncommon for companies to present unsolicited material to our department when they are unsuccessful in a competitive process," spokesman Andrew McKelvey said recently.
"We do not comment on these unsolicited documents as they are provided outside the scope of our established procurement process."
Both the department and the commander of the navy stand behind the decisions that were made and the systems chosen for the new frigate.
"We did our homework. We talked to other navies. We engaged our allies," said Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, who added DND was aware of other options on the market.
Delivering the warships on schedule and on budget in the mid-2020s is a constant preoccupation in the department, he said. He would not say whether the choice of radar system might mean a delay in delivery.
A senior executive at Lockheed Martin Canada said the company's radar system is identical to one selected by the U.S. government and other countries.
Much of the system's hardware, and some of its software, have been used on U.S. Aegis-type guided missile destroyers and cruisers. The difference between the radar system chosen for Canada's frigates and conventional systems is in its array: the Lockheed Martin system sweeps around and above the vessel, rather than only horizontally.
"The work that remains is to integrate it into the ship and integrate it into the ship's combat system," said Gary Fudge, general manager and vice president of Lockheed Martin Canada.
"We worked for two years with BAE during the proposal stage to optimize the ship design with this particular radar."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/frigate-gun-radar-canadian-navy-1.5405054
December 5, 2023 | Local, Aerospace
The CF Snowbirds begin their schedule May 18 in Comox, B.C., and zig-zag across the country and down to the U.S. before ending the season Oct. 6.
August 10, 2018 | Local, Land
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
June 13, 2019 | Local, C4ISR
CAMBRIDGE, ON and ATHENS, Greece, June 13, 2019 /CNW/ - exactEarth Ltd. ("exactEarth") (XCT:TSX), a leading provider of Satellite-AIS data services, and MarineTraffic, a leading global provider of ship tracking and maritime intelligence, announce that they have entered into a three-year channel partner agreement (the "Agreement"). Under terms of the Agreement, MarineTraffic will deploy exactEarth's exactView RT data into its online maritime services products to help bring real-time, business-critical and actionable vessel information to maritime industry participants. exactView RT consists of 58 operational payloads and seven orbital spares that were designed and built by Harris Corporation and that are hosted onboard the Iridium NEXT constellation of satellites, which is owned and operated by Iridium Communications Inc. exactView RT's advanced maritime payloads cover the entire maritime VHF radio band and leverage the unique cross-linked architecture of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation to deliver AIS and other vessel-based VHF data services from more than 500,000 vessels, anywhere on the globe, relaying that data securely to customers in real-time. MarineTraffic owns the world's preeminent ship-tracking website, which attracts approximately six million unique visitors per month. The company operates 2,000 AIS stations in more than 165 countries around-the-world, delivering the most comprehensive AIS coastal tracking facility available today. For companies in the maritime sector, MarineTraffic is a preferred tool for fleet management, alert and notification systems, vessel particulars, port statistics and actionable intelligence through API. "MarineTraffic is a leading provider of vessel movement information services and we look forward to contributing to their ongoing efforts to enhance their customer experience," said Peter Mabson, President & CEO of exactEarth. "This Agreement opens-up another channel for our Satellite-AIS data services and is a further positive indication of the response we have received from customers, prospects and partners regarding the real-time functionality of exactView RT. With its superior vessel detection, rapid update rate and reliability, exactView RT is becoming a "must-have" data source on major data platforms throughout the maritime industry." Argyris Stasinakis, Partner Business Development, MarineTraffic said, "The addition of exactEarth's high resolution, real-time AIS data means that MarineTraffic is now the go-to source for any professional seeking the most comprehensive view of shipping movements. Users of our platform exploiting our ocean coverage services will see enhanced functionality thanks to the higher frequency, coverage and less than one-minute latency delivered by the exactView RT satellite constellation. This means that our popular predictive services will be more accurate than ever before, allowing our customers to monitor and plan more precisely." About MarineTraffic With headquarters in Athens and international offices in the UK and Singapore, MarineTraffic is the global ship tracking and maritime intelligence provider. Leveraging AIS technology, MarineTraffic is at the forefront of a movement taking shipping into a new digital era. The company's range of services deliver increased transparency to the shipping markets through the provision of high-quality data for analysis, which supports forecasting and informed decision making. MarineTraffic receives analyses and stores millions of vessel positions every day. This data is collected through the world's most extensive network of AIS stations before being enriched to deliver business-critical information. Current positions and vessel's tracks are displayed on a Live Map, with historical positions, vessel details, port conditions and statistics being made available throughout the website. www.marinetraffic.com About exactEarth Ltd. exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world's oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced "big data" processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit www.exactearth.com Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements that, to the extent they are not recitations of historical fact, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding exactEarth's future plans, our ability to continue as a going concern, objectives or economic performance, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, including statements regarding, among other things, expectations of our exactView RT offering relative to competitors, timing of the achievement of real-time global vessel tracking via our second-generation constellation, timing expectations with respect to launch of satellites, expectations of the exactView RT capabilities driving growth, growth opportunities for the Company in the maritime information services market and the cost and revenue share in connection with the Harris Agreement. exactEarth uses words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by exactEarth in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors exactEarth believes are appropriate under the relevant circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to exactEarth's expectations and predictions is subject to any number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties. Many factors could cause exactEarth's actual results, historical financial statements, or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors include, without limitation: uncertainty in the global economic environment; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; delays in the purchasing decisions of exactEarth's customers; the competition exactEarth faces in its industry and/or marketplace; the further delayed launch of satellites; the reduced scope of significant existing contracts; and the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with the deployment of exactEarth's products or services. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/exactearth-and-marinetraffic-announce-channel-partner-agreement-865863568.html