Liberals award Boeing and U.S. government sole-source deal worth $8 billion for new military surveillance aircraft fleet

On the same subject

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  December 3, 2023 | Local, Aerospace

  Defense officials put technology at center of AUKUS summit

  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Australian and British counterparts in California to discuss the security pact

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  August 21, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  PAL Aerospace seeks talent for SAR operating bases

  Chris Thatcher PAL Aerospace is on the hunt for maintenance, materiel, information technology and other support talent to staff the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF's) four search and rescue main operating bases. Twenty months after the federal government selected 16 Airbus CC-295W fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft to replace six CC-115 Buffalos and 12 CC-130 H-model Hercules, St. John's, N.L.-based PAL is ready to hire the team that will deliver in-service support (ISS) for the new fleet. “PAL Aerospace will be providing a wide assortment of program management services as we prepare to undertake the maintenance and logistics support, heavy maintenance, including a mobile repair team, and centralize supply chain management activities for this aircraft,” Eva Martinez, vice-president of ISS, told the Abbotsford Aerospace, Defence and Security Expo (ADSE) in August. As a supplier to Airbus, PAL is responsible for maintenance and material support of the new fleet, providing an integrated team of aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs), warehouse and tool crib personnel, a technical library and a contractor field office at four main operating bases in Comox, B.C., Winnipeg, Man., Trenton, Ont., and Greenwood, N.S. Each base will require around 11 people. PAL will also establish and maintain a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Winnipeg for heavy maintenance work. The shop will be co-located with its central warehouse, and will be home base for the mobile repair team. In total, PAL expects to hire around 28 people to staff the facility. As for material, PAL will provide ground support equipment, a 30-day supply of aircraft consumables at each base, personal protective equipment, and shipping and handling of all aircraft spare parts, said Martinez, an aerospace engineer who served 13 years in the Air Force. Through a joint venture with Airbus called AirPro, PAL will collaborate on the integration of all ISS services. “Our hiring target as it stands right now is 73,” she said. “As we work with Canada and Airbus to fully define the maintenance tasks, we could see an increase in the level of effort required...for AMEs.” That workload is based in part on RCAF plans to locate three CC-295W at each base. Two more will reside with the operational training unit in Comox while a final two will serve as floaters. “They will be moved around depending on the induction into heavy maintenance as well as the operational tempo,” said Martinez. Comox, which will include the RCAF's new search and rescue training centre, will stand up in 2019 to coincide with the arrival of the first aircraft, expected by the end of next year. The front, mid and rear fuselage sections have been delivered to Airbus's pre-final assembly line in Tablada, Spain, and the final aircraft is expected to roll out in the first quarter of 2019. Full article: https://www.skiesmag.com/news/pal-aerospace-seeks-iss-talent-for-rcaf-sar-operating-bases/

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  January 17, 2019 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, Security

  National Defence doesn’t know impact of carbon tax on fuel costs

  By Charlie Pinkerton The Department of National Defence hasn't yet measured how much more it will be paying for fuel under the federal carbon tax. The military spends around $200 million on fuel per year. In response to an order-paper question in mid-December, National Defence parliamentary secretary Serge Cormier said the department “is in the process of determining the broad implications of the price on carbon pollution.” A spokesperson from the department confirmed today it hasn't yet decided how it will assess these costs. The Canadian Armed Forces uses different types of fuel to run its vehicles, aircraft and naval vessels, and for heating, cooking and generating power. While costs follow the ebb and flow of fuel prices in Canada, the military has spent over $183 million in each of the last five years. The highest total was in 2014, when it spent $246 million. Last year, the total came to $195 million. Since it buys fuel in Canada and abroad, it won't have to pay a tax on all purchases. The exact costs will vary by province or territory, but the federal government's fuel charge will be $20 per tonne of carbon emissions in 2019, increasing by $10 per tonne each year until it reaches $50 per tonne in 2022. For a tank of gas, the tax is expected to add 4.4 cents per litre in 2019 and 11 cents per litre in 2022. The federal government says 90 per cent of what it collects will be returned directly to Canadians, which will amount to about $300 per Ontario household, what the government estimates more than 70 per cent of Canadian households will pay. National Defence will eventually have to determine the impact of the carbon tax on its operations and maintenance budget. In its response to Conservative MP Karen Vecchio's order-paper question, the military declined to say how much it expects the price on carbon will cost the department in each of the next five years. It says costs “are not tracked or forecast,” and it couldn't formulate a response in the time allowed. This is typical for order-paper questions, since the government is required to respond in 45 days. According to the Liberals' new defence policy, they plan to invest $225 million in infrastructure projects by 2020. Cormier's response echoes another commitment of Canada's “Strong, Secure, Engaged” defence policy, in that the Armed Forces will transition 20 per cent of their non-military fleet to hybrid or electric vehicles by next year. https://ipolitics.ca/2019/01/16/national-defence-doesnt-know-impact-of-carbon-tax-on-fuel-costs/