May 13, 2022 | Local, Aerospace, Land
Canada taking ‘comprehensive look’ at joining U.S. ballistic missile defense
Anita Anand: “We are leaving no stone unturned in this major review of continental defense.”
June 11, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Military spending needed more now than ever, top defence official says
Lee Berthiaume
The Canadian PressStaff
Published Thursday, June 11, 2020 4:20AM EDT
OTTAWA -- The Defence Department's top civilian official is touting the importance of continued investments in the Canadian Armed Forces, and says she has received no indications the Liberal government is planning to cut spending because of the COVID-19 crisis.
The comments by Defence Department deputy minister Jody Thomas come amid questions about how the Liberal government plans to find the tens of billions of dollars doled out in recent months to support Canadians during the pandemic.
The emergency support, estimated at $153 billion at last count, has far surpassed expected government spending and significant belt-tightening is likely after the crisis as Ottawa will start searching for ways to keep the country from drowning in red ink.
Military spending was previously slashed in the 1990s as Jean Chretien's Liberal government wrestled with massive deficits while Stephen Harper's Conservative government followed a similar course after the 2008-09 financial crash.
That has prompted concerns within defence circles that the pattern will repeat itself after COVID-19, with fears the Liberals will lean heavily on the country's $29-billion defence budget to help get government spending back under control.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Thomas said she had not received any order or direction to slow or cut defence spending and that officials are continuing to work on the planned purchase of new warships, fighter jets and other equipment.
"We are not experiencing any slowdowns," she said.
"We are continuing very aggressively and ambitiously to continue our plan."
That plan is the Liberals' defence strategy, which it released in 2017. Known as Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE), the strategy promised $553 billion in military spending over 20 years. Much of that is to buy new equipment such as jets and warships.
"There has been zero indication from anyone that there would be a cut to the budget," Thomas said, adding Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan "has been very clear of his expectations of us to execute on SSE."
She went on to suggest the planned defence spending is actually needed as much now as before the pandemic as the crisis amplifies the already significant global uncertainty that existed before COVID-19.
A scan of recent headlines underscores that uncertainty, from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration suggesting it may pull troops from Germany to China imposing its will on Hong Kong and flexing its muscles in the South China Sea.
There are also ongoing concerns about Russia and the situation in the Middle East.
"Canada has to be equipped," Thomas said. "In a post-COVID world, there is, I would say as the deputy minister of defence, a need for SSE to in fact be done more quickly rather than slow it down or cut the budget."
The government last week tabled its latest request for money in Parliament, which included $585 million for the continued construction of two new naval support ships in Vancouver. The first of those ships is due in 2023.
Defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said the Liberals have significantly ramped up military spending, but no one knows how fast the economy will recover or how deep Ottawa will be in the hole when the pandemic ends.
"Without knowing more about these things, it's way too early to know what the impact will be to defence," he said.
"But it's a basic fact of Canadian federal budgeting that if a government is looking to reduce all federal spending, DND plays a part in that because it spends the most money."
And while trimming military spending was the route taken by previous governments, there are implications, as evidenced by the age of Canada's CF-18s and other old equipment and its lack of naval support vessels until the new ones are finished.
"Part of the reason we're having issues with procurement today is because of the decisions that were taken before," Perry said.
"The reasons they were taken -- rightly or wrongly, I would say largely rightly -- in the 1990s to reduce spending then, we're still dealing with the after-effects of it now because we didn't buy stuff then and we're trying to make up for lost time now."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2020.
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October 1, 2019 | Local, Land
Photos: Petawawa soldiers test new camouflage uniform pattern
Soldiers at Petawawa are involved in testing what could be the new camouflage uniform pattern for the Canadian Forces. Known as “Prototype J” the new camouflage pattern is being examined as a possible replacement for both the current arid (tan) and temperate woodland (green) camouflage. Various camouflage patterns were examined as part of the SOCEM (Soldier Operational Clothing and Equipment Modernization) Project but this is the first to be taken out to the field for a large-scale test. The prototype pattern, developed by Canadian defence scientists, is predominately brown, with some green and black. The addition of more brown in the pattern reflects the desire to bring it more into the middle of the spectrum and is not necessarily tied to a specific operating environment, according to the Canadian Army. The current Canadian Disruptive Pattern, or CADPAT, has been in use since the early 2000s. Here are photos of the new camouflage in use. All photos are by Aviator Melissa Gloude. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/photos-petawawa-soldiers-test-new-camouflage
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December 26, 2019 | Local, Naval
Industry briefing questions Ottawa's choice of guns, defence systems for new frigates
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. Old guns, inadequate defence systems? 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. 'The ship has sailed' "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. 'We did our homework' 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