MDA: All-Domain C2 Key To Countering Hypersonic Missiles

On the same subject

• 

  February 7, 2019 | Local, Naval

  Liberals rush to sign Canadian Surface Combatant contract- deal could be signed by Friday

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Liberal government is pushing ahead to try to get the Canadian Surface Combatant deal signed with Irving and the Lockheed Martin-BAE consortium either Thursday or Friday, sources say. That $60 billion project will see the eventual construction of 15 warships in the largest single government purchase in Canadian history. Lockheed is offering Canada the Type 26 warship designed by BAE in the United Kingdom. Irving is the prime contractor and the vessels will be built at its yard on the east coast. Public Services and Procurement Canada did not respond to a request for comment. But some industry representatives are questioning why the government is moving so quickly to get the contract signed. They say with a deal of such financial size – and potential risk to the taxpayer – federal bureaucrats should move slowly and carefully. The entry of the BAE Type 26 warship in the competition was controversial from the start and sparked complaints the procurement process was skewed to favour that vessel. Previously the Liberal government had said only mature existing designs or designs of ships already in service with other navies would be accepted, on the grounds they could be built faster and would be less risky. Unproven designs can face challenges as problems are found once the vessel is in the water and operating. But that criteria was changed and the government and Irving accepted the BAE design, though at the time it existed only on the drawing board. Construction began on the first Type 26 frigate in the summer of 2017 for Britain's Royal Navy, but it has not yet been completed. Company claims about what the Type 26 ship can do, including how fast it can go, are based on simulations or projections. The two other bidders in the Canadian program had ships actually in service with other navies so their capabilities are known. Both Irving and the federal government have insisted the procurement was conducted in a way that ensures all bidders are treated equally, overseen by a fairness monitor with no unfair advantage given to any individual bidder. Nonetheless, while three consortiums submitted bids for the surface combatant program, several European shipbuilders decided against participating because of concerns about the fairness of the process. Others raised concerns about BAE's closeness with the Halifax firm. The Canadian Surface Combatant program has already faced rising costs. In 2008 the then-Conservative government estimated the project would cost roughly $26 billion. But in 2015, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, then commander of the navy, voiced concern that taxpayers may not have been given all the information about the program, publicly predicting the cost for the warships alone would approach $30 billion. Last year, Alion, one of the companies that submitted a bid on the project, filed a complaint with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal alleging the process was flawed and that BAE's Type 26 can't meet Canadian requirements. Alion has also filed a legal challenge in federal court, asking for a judicial review of the decision by Irving and the government to select the BAE design. Alion argued the Type 26 cannot meet the stated mandatory requirements, including speed, that Canada set out for the new warship, so it should be disqualified. The CITT, however, rejected that complaint on Jan. 30. “The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has determined that Alion Science and Technology Canada Corporation and Alion Science and Technology Corporation did not have standing to file a complaint before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal,” it noted in a statement. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/liberals-rush-to-sign-canadian-surface-combatant-contract-deal-expected-to-be-signed-by-friday

• 

  March 15, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Preparing to ditch — a new way of training for helicopter emergencies

  Jane Adey · CBC News Imagine you're an offshore worker on a helicopter flying to an oil platform and you hear the words "prepare to ditch" from your pilot. Adrenalin surges through your body as you raise your arms across your chest and assume the brace position. But will you remember what to do? Will panic take over? A St. John's company is working with the Marine Institute to help offshore workers become more comfortable in the air and better prepared for emergencies. Brainstorming a solution Ten years ago, in the days after the crash of Cougar 491, Anthony Patterson began thinking about how to improve safety in the offshore. His company, Virtual Marine, was in the early days of developing simulators for lifeboat training in the water. But Patterson, whose team specialized in marine simulations, knew his company had some technologies that could apply to the air. "We brainstormed on how we could create a better training experience," said Patterson, and they developed a small helicopter simulator. "We're very good at modeling boats in the water and then even the helicopter floating in the water, but the part about the helicopter flying through the air, of course, we had no expertise with that whatsoever," said Patterson. That's when Cougar Helicopters got on board. Virtual Marine brought its helicopter simulator to the lead pilots at the company. With the simulator, they flew the different kinds of manoeuvres they'd use if they had to ditch at sea. The simulator collected the data. and Virtual Marine embedded it into their simulation system to create the flight paths in an emergency. The simulator consists of a large box made to look like exactly like the inside of a helicopter. A motion bed, attached to the underside and controlled by a computer, allows workers to feel the same kind of movement as they would during a flight. The seatbelts are the same, the windows are the same and the views out the windows are the same as they would be in real life. It's important that the simulator be as realistic as possible for Liz Sanli, a researcher in ocean safety at the Marine Institute with expertise in skill learning over time. She's focused on how workers learn and how much they retain when asked to perform a task again at a later date. "So we're looking at how we can train during practice to help them remember all those steps when they're in a stressful situation down the road," said Sanli. Right now, workers are trained in a swimming pool on how to escape a helicopter submerged in water but training for the actual flight occurs in a classroom. By sitting inside a helicopter flight simulator, Sanli says, the workers' experience is more accurate. "You're getting that experience of physically doing the task so you get to go through the steps you get to experience them you can sometimes experience mistakes in a safe environment and learn from those mistakes rather than just watching somebody else do it, for example," said Sanli. "You also can simulate some of the feelings, so you can hear the sounds, you know that you're in a different environment and that can better match some of the more advanced training or perhaps even a real emergency." Sanli measures anxiety levels of participants and follows how well the protocol sequence is followed under a variety of conditions. She monitors what happens when trainees are seated in different positions and when they train in light and in darkness, getting as much information as possible to make training efficient and effective. "It's a big responsibility to have this evidence to make decisions when it comes to regulations, when it comes to decisions about training to have it based in evidence. It's safety that's at stake," said Sanli. For now, research on the simulator continues with hopes it will soon augment the training done by offshore workers. Patterson,says ten years after 17 lives were lost in the offshore, he's glad to have contributed what he could to try and make the industry safer. "This really was something that was more than a job," he said. "It was something that we had to do, to do our part to bring safety to the community. Everybody in the company, we all worked extra hours. I'd say this is the one that all of our engineers have the most pride in, accomplishing this task." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/helicopter-cougar-crash-safety-offshore-1.5048792

• 

  November 25, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  CAE upgrades trainers at 15 Wing Moose Jaw

  Ahead of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), the world's largest military training and simulation event to be held next week in Orlando, Fla., CAE announced it has completed major upgrades to the CT-156 Harvard (T-6) and CT-155 Hawk flight training devices (FTDs) used as part of the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Sask. The upgrades were done on three CT-156 Harvard FTDs and one CT-155 Hawk FTD that are used extensively for ground-based training elements of the NFTC pilot training syllabus. CAE replaced computing hardware on the simulators, added new visual display systems, updated the instructor operator stations, and upgraded the image generators to the latest CAE Medallion series. CAE will now begin upgrading the CT-155 Hawk FTD located at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta., which is used as part of phase IV fighter lead-in training under the NFTC program. “The ground-based training system and use of simulators has become increasingly important for military pilot training,” said France Hébert, vice-president and general manager, CAE Canada. “With the upgraded flight training devices used for NATO Flying Training in Canada, we will now be able to deliver ground-based training that is more immersive and realistic, which in turn contributes to the more effective and efficient delivery of live flying training.” The effectiveness of the upgraded CT-156 Harvard and CT-155 Hawk FTDs is already benefiting student pilots. The new visual systems provide more realism in the synthetic environment and have enabled training tasks such as formation flying and tactical scenarios to be rehearsed in the simulators, thus enhancing the efficiency of performing these tasks during live flying training. As the prime contractor for the NFTC program, CAE operates the NFTC base facilities, delivers the ground-school classroom and simulator training, and supports the live flying training on a fleet of Beechcraft T-6 (CT-156 Harvard) and BAE Systems Hawk (CT-155 Hawk) aircraft. CAE operates the NFTC program out of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and 4 Wing Cold Lake, and the program is designed and delivered in cooperation with the Government of Canada to support pilot training for the Royal Canadian Air Force and allied militaries. The NFTC program combines basic, advanced, and lead-in fighter training as part of the comprehensive military pilot training program. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cae-upgrades-trainers-at-15-wing-moose-jaw