Military has no documents about fighter jet 'capability gap,' a claim used to justify aircraft purchase

On the same subject

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  June 18, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Will the request for bids for new Canadian fighter jets be released next month?

  DAVID PUGLIESE Federal officials are hoping to get out the request for proposals on the Canada's future fighter jet procurement project by mid-July. That will mean that any changes have to be done and the process signed off in the coming weeks. At the same time a federal election is expected by October and should take place on or before October 21. Can federal bureaucrats make the mid-July deadline? “There's always risk to it,” said Pat Finn, Assistant Deputy Minister for Materiel at the Department of National Defence. “We recognize the closer we get to a writ period the more there is an issue there. So we're just making sure we're driving hard to get it out by mid-July.” At this point four aircraft are expected to be considered: two U.S.-built aircraft, the F-35, and the Super Hornet, and two European planes, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Gripen. The winning bidder will build 88 jets for Canada, and the first delivery 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. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/will-the-request-for-bids-for-new-canadian-fighter-jets-be-released-next-month

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  March 4, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

  SECURITY AND DRONES!

  Lévis, Qc, February 2020 : Drone Vision International of Lévis, Qc, is pleased to announce to the aeronautical drone community that it has been selected by Correctional Service of Canada to present its drone detection technology in proof of concept possible and adaptable to a challenge named Preventing Contraband Delivery via Air and Ground. To this end, with the help of its Canadian and French partners, including, among others, the leader in radio frequency detection, CerbAir, Drone Vision International is mandated to present a report which constitutes a first step of a multi-stage program in search of a Canadian solution to a technological challenge formulated by a federal organization of Canada. Correctional Service of Canada is seeking a Canadian innovative, scalable and cost-effective technology solution to detect, track and prevent the delivery of contraband items to institutions via both drone and fence throw-over. Drone Vision International, a Canadian start-up will present a proof of concept demonstrating the technological and commercial feasibility of its innovative solution. To follow up on this step, Drone Vision International is eligible to receive another contract to develop and deliver a prototype that meets the expectations of the Correctional Service of Canada. Thanks to the expertise and skills of the Drone Vision International team, a Canadian agency could finally solve a problem that many Canadian citizens are concerned about. It is with enthusiasm that the team from Lévis, Qc, is considering this challenge! For more information, please contact Drone Vision International jac@dronevisioninternational.com www.dronevision.ca Source and reference: https://buyandsell.gc.ca/procurement-data/contract-history/21120-200233-001-SI

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  January 28, 2019 | Local, Naval

  Storied Coast Guard ship can’t be fixed, shipyard says, highlighting yet again, Canada’s shipbuilding problem

  By David Akin A Quebec shipyard hopeful of getting more federal work has condemned a storied Coast Guard ship as beyond repair, declining to bid on a lucrative contract to overhaul the 56-year-old CCGS Hudson on the grounds that it “presents a serious and real threat to the safety of life at sea.” In a letter delivered Tuesday to officials with Public Services and Procurement Canada, Davie CEO Jared Newcombe said his company, based in Lévis, Que., would not bid on the contract to upgrade the Hudson as Davie believes the vessel to be beyond repair. A copy of that letter was provided to Global News. The federal government was trying to squeeze another few years of service out of the Hudson which, having been commissioned in 1963, is the oldest ship in the Coast Guard's fleet. Bidding on the life-extension contract, expected to be worth about $20 million, ended this week. It is the latest headache to bedevil a federal shipbuilding process that has been rife with delays. Davie's remarkable letter — procurement experts cannot recall a bidder ever recommending scrapping a major vessel when offered a chance to upgrade it — underscores the difficulties successive federal governments have had in updating an aging Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy fleet. “The Coast Guard ships are in serious need of replacement now,” said David Perry, a defence procurement expert and senior analyst at the Ottawa-based think tank, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The average service of a Coast Guard ship is about 36 years. Canada's Maritime peers typically replace their Coast Guard vessels within 30 years of service. The Harper government announced in 2007 that the Hudson was to be replaced by 2012 and the contract to replace her was awarded to Vancouver's Seaspan shipyard. But that project is mired in delays and it is not clear when there will be a replacement. There is not yet a confirmed date for construction to start while the projected budget of $331 million to build the Hudson's replacement is under review. The Hudson did have a $4-million refit in Hamilton, Ont., in 2016, and has had more work done on it since it returned to its East Coast port in Dartmouth, N.S., in 2017. But Davie told the government that, in its view, the Hudson has now reached the end of the line. “The level of degradation to the hull, fuel tanks, onboard systems and other structural elements presents a serious and real threat to the safety of life at sea as well as the environment,” Newcombe wrote. Newcombe said his company had to consider its own liability should it have won the current life extension contract, “as well as ethical, repetitional and environmental considerations.” Full article: https://globalnews.ca/news/4884924/coast-guard-ship-cant-be-fixed-canada-shipbuilding-problem/