L3 Wescam launches In-Flight training course for MX-Series EO/IR turrets

On the same subject

• 

  April 23, 2018 | Local, Naval

  Government of Canada announces contract award to Cellula Robotics Ltd for research and development in support of sub-surface surveillance in Arctic

  News release From: National Defence April 6, 2018 – Ottawa, Ont. – National Defence/Canadian Armed Forces In Canada's defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, the Department of National Defence (DND) commits to focusing on defence research and development to produce innovative solutions to surveillance challenges in the North, including the priority areas of Arctic joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Today the Government of Canada, has awarded a contract to Cellula Robotics Ltd to develop a fuel cell that will improve the ability for autonomous underwater vehicles to store sufficient energy to undertake long range and long duration missions. This contract has a total value of close to $648,000 and is being awarded under the 2016 Innovation Call for Proposals for the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology (S&T) program. Surveillance solutions support the Government of Canada's ability to exercise sovereignty in the North, and provide a greater awareness of safety and security issues, as well as transportation and commercial activity in Canada's Arctic. In addition, solutions may contribute to joint efforts between Canada and the United States to renew the North Warning System and modernize elements of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Through an investment of close to $133 million through to 2020, the ADSA S&T program coordinates and funds innovative research and analysis to support the development of options for enhanced domain awareness of air, maritime surface and sub-surface approaches to Canada, in particular those in the Arctic. Quotes “In order to address Canadian challenges we need to explore innovative made-in-Canada solutions, especially given the extensive coastline in the Arctic. Our academic institutions and innovation industry are among the best in the world and we are proud to work with them to address particularly complex surveillance issues for the Arctic.” Defence Minister Harjit S. Saijan “Our Government is committed to providing the members of the Canadian Armed Forces with the tools they need to do their jobs, while obtaining the best possible value for Canadians. These contracts will draw upon Canadian expertise to develop cutting-edge surveillance technologies for the Arctic.” The Honourable Carla Qualtrough Minister of Public Services and Procurement Quick facts ADSA is a program led by DND, which aims to leverage innovative science & technology expertise from other government departments, academia, industry and allies, to identify, assess and validate technologies in support of air and maritime surveillance, particularly in the North. National Defence's science and technology organization Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is the national leader in defence and security S&T. It provides the defence S&T community, the Canadian Armed Forces and other government departments, as well as the public safety and security communities, with the knowledge and technology advantage needed to defend and protect Canada's interests at home and abroad. Related products Backgrounder - Government of Canada announces contract award to Cellula Robotics Ltd for research and development in support of sub-surface surveillance in Arctic Associated links All Domain Situational Awareness Program Government of Canada Announces Contract Awards for All Domain Situational Awareness Science & Technology Program Government of Canada Announces 2016 Call For Proposals Bid Submission Period for Science and Technology Investments Contacts Media Relations Department of National Defence Phone: 613-996-2353 Email: mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca Follow National Defence Science and Technology (@DRDC_RDDC) on Twitter For more information, please visit www.drdc-rddc.gc.ca https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2018/04/government-of-canada-announces-contract-award-to-cellula-robotics-ltd-for-research-and-development-in-support-of-sub-surface-surveillance-in-arctic0.html

• 

  March 20, 2023 | Local, Other Defence

  White House wants Ottawa to update air defence more quickly, ambassador to U.S. says

  Kirsten Hillman, who is in Ottawa from her usual posting at Canada's U.S. embassy to prepare for the talks, said air defence will be a key agenda item in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's meetings next week with President Joe Biden

• 

  June 11, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  Here are just some of the ways Canadian technology keeps Americans safe

  It's been a week since the Trump White House slapped Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs on the ground that reliance on our imports was threatening the “national security” of the United States. If Canadians are particularly galled at this, it might be because no foreign country in modern times has done more to arm and equip the United States than Canada. “I would not be surprised if every single major aircraft or warship in U.S. military service today has Canadian components in it,” said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Below, a cursory summary of some of the Canadian stuff used by history's most powerful military. Landing gear We'll start with an entry that directly concerns steel and aluminum. Quebec-based Héroux-Devtek is the world's third largest aircraft landing gear company, and some of that is thanks to a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Specifically, Héroux-Devtek is in charge of landing gear repair and overhaul for several large U.S. aircraft, including the heavy-lift C-130 Hercules. Of course, landing gear is made almost entirely of steel or aluminum. So, thanks to these new tariffs, American military procurers are either going to start getting hosed on their Héroux-Devtek contracts — or they're going to have start getting their landing gear overhauls from a U.S. company that isn't their first choice. Armoured personnel carriers “Canada and the US have been building military equipment for each other since the summer of 1940,” David Bercuson, a military historian at the University of Calgary, told the National Post. “Literally billions of dollars of such equipment has passed the border since then.” The most obvious example is the Stryker. There are nearly 5,000 Stryker armoured personnel carriers in the U.S. military, and all of them were built in London, Ontario. Not only that, but the Stryker is even based on a Canadian design, the LAV III. Coming in at a rock bottom $4 million apiece, the Americans use Strykers for everything: Ambulances, firefighting, missile platforms, chemical weapons defence and mine detection. They even started rigging them up with giant lasers to shoot down enemy drones. Armoured vehicles happen to be a Canadian specialty. While the United States was busy throwing money at big ticket items such as tanks and attack helicopters, the shoestring Canadians have gotten very good at the much cheaper task of simply strapping guns and armour to oversized trucks. And if a U.S. diplomat found themselves touring Iraq in an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser, chances are good they were shielded from bullets and IEDs by Canadian workmanship. Specialized aircraft Here again, the United States has it covered when it comes to big ticket aircraft such as fighters or bombers. But the U.S. military will occasionally call up Canadian plane-makers when it needs something quirky. Bombardier has retooled some of its airliners and business jets to act as airborne radar platforms. When the United States Army Parachute Team appears at air shows, they're jumping out of a Canadian-made de Havilland Twin Otter. De Havilland has also hooked up the Americans with some of its famously rugged prop planes for use in electronic warfare, remote cargo drops or simply moving National Guard troops around Alaska. All told, the U.S. military is flying more planes built in Canada than in any other foreign country. The U.S. military's only cargo drone (and it has the most Canadian name imaginable) A U.S. special forces unit is pinned down on a remote Central Asian mountaintop. Surrounded by militants on all sides, it needs an emergency airlift of water and ammunition to even see daybreak. Enter the SnowGoose, an unmanned autogyro specializing in precision deliveries to special forces. The SnowGoose is the U.S. military's only cargo drone, and it's an all-Canadian creation. An emerging theme on this list is that Canada is great at building niche military hardware for cheap, and the SnowGoose is no exception. As the drone's Stittsville, Ont. builders note, it can move cargo across a battlefield at a fraction of the price of other drones. Nuclear fuel Uranium is a big part of the modern U.S. military. It has more than 100 nuclear-powered vessels in the navy, and there's also those 7,000 atomic weapons it still has lying around. Canada has sold a whole lot of uranium to the U.S. military, going all the way back to the initial atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. However, the taps were somewhat shut off in the 1960s, when Canada started limiting uranium exports to “peaceful” purposes. Still, with Canada ranking as the United States' top uranium dealer, we help keep their uranium topped up enough to have plenty left over for the military. Speaking of nuclear weapons, it might behoove the White House to remember that if a Russian or North Korean missile should happen to be fired in their direction, a Canada-based NORAD station will likely be among the first to let them know. Making fighter jets last forever This entry should fill thrifty Canadians with particular pride: We've gotten so good at squeezing every penny out of our CF-18s that we're now globally renowned experts at fighter jet life extension. Among other things, Canada invented “robotic shot-peening,” a method of using robots to restore aging aircraft with a precision never before known. The technology has been exported to Europe, Australia and, in 2013, the U.S. Navy brought in the Quebec aerospace company L-3 MAS to give its jets a makeover. Battlefield communications Tactical radios are another niche technology in which Canadian companies have a built a slow but steady reputation with the Americans. In a 2017 reporton Canada/U.S. military industrial cooperation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that the U.S. military has been using Canadian radios since the 1960s. Ultra TCS, headquartered in Montreal, remains a supplier of tactical radios to both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. And these aren't just walkie-talkies; they're hyper-advanced networks that can provide email, voice and even video hook-ups to American troops in battle. Jeeps That's right. The Second World War-era Willys Jeep — one of the most American vehicles in history — was manufactured in part by Canada. Ford Motor Company of Canada churned out thousands of Jeeps after the Second World War. In 1952 alone, Canadian factories were making an average of seven of them per day. According to Ford Canada's website, “these postwar Canadian-made Jeep were shipped to the United States, for the American military forces.” Space robots DARPA is the U.S. agency tasked with pursuing military so cutting edge that they occasionally veer into outright science fiction. Last year, DARPA signed a deal with Canada's MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to design robots that could be dispatched into space in order to repair U.S. military satellites. And like most times Canada is brought in for U.S. military stuff, the robot space mechanic program is indeed intended as a cost saving measure. Canada has been a leader in space defence for some time. Our beloved Canadarm, in fact, technically qualifies as an early military space robot. Over the course of the space shuttle program 11 missions were sent up to perform classified work for the Pentagon. We still don't know the specifics of what the Canadarm did for Uncle Sam on those missions, but the arm is a certifiable Cold Warrior. http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/security-threat-our-butt-here-are-just-some-of-the-ways-canadian-technology-keeps-americans-safe