Minister Blair announces major investments in equipment and training for the Canadian Armed Forces in partnership with Canada’s defence industry

On the same subject

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  July 26, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Viking to put special missions aircraft on tour - updates on defence industry developments

  By DAVID PUGLIESE Viking Air Limited of Victoria, BC has announced its plans to hold a world demonstration tour for its Guardian 400 aircraft, the special missions variant of the Viking Series 400 Twin Otter. The world tour will include detailed briefings and demonstration flights in Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, South East Asia, Oceania, and North America, according to Esprit de Corps magazine. The company unveiled the special mission variant last month at the 2019 Paris International Airshow. Here are more details of what I wrote for Esprit de Corps: For the past six months, a production Series 400 Twin Otter has been undergoing modifications to transform into Viking's Guardian 400 demonstrator aircraft for the proposed world tour, the firm noted. It will feature a left-hand SCAR pod with Hensoldt Argos EO/IR imaging turret, multi-spectral HDTV camera, mega- pixel HD Thermal imager, laser range finder, multi-mode auto tracker, and Remote Image Bus (RIB) video feed for display on the cockpit MFD or crew workstation. The demonstrator will also feature a right-hand SCAR pod with Leonardo Osprey Radar System and Sentient Vidar Camera system. In addition to its mission sensor package, the Guardian 400 prototype will be equipped with an Airborne Technologies' tactical workstation with high-definition touchscreen monitors, data/voice/video recorder, Mission Management Unit (MMU), mission radio communications, intuitive hand controller for MCU & SLR camera targeting, CarteNav AIMS mission system software, Kestrel MTI targeting software, and IKHANA ergonomic mission seat for optimized crew comfort. The prototype will also be equipped with Viking conformal bubble windows, left and right wing-mounted hard points by IKHANA, Thunder Bay Aviation stretcher racks, and an aft lavatory for crew comfort. The tour is expected to start in September. It will end in May 2020 at CANSEC 2020 to be held in Ottawa. Nexter has been selected by the Canadian government to supply the Canadian Army with 88 multi-purpose robots. The deal includes the delivery of 79 NERVA-LG and nine NERVA-XX robots. It is worth $6 million. The medium-sized robot can be controlled from any standard PC, tablet or smartphone, according to the company. Nexter Systems is the prime contractor and will work with Nexter Robotics and ECA Robotics. Deltic Group of Oakville, Ontario will handle in-service support. Leonardo announced that it has signed a contract with QinetiQ to provide a number of PicoSAR Active Electronically Scanned Array radars for the Canadian military's new drones. The firm noted that the PicoSAR radar is ideally suited for installation aboard the Canadian Forces new system, which is based on the lightweight UMS Skeldar V-200 Unmanned Aerial System. The radar will provide all-weather ground mapping and surveillance capability for missions. Seaspan Shipyards has awarded BCS Automation Ltd. a contract for work on the Canadian government's new Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV). BCS is the most recent supplier to partner with Seaspan in its work on the OOSV program. BCS is a family owned Canadian small business located in Belleville, Ontario, Seaspan pointed out. The firm is supplying a state of the art ship control and monitoring system for the OOSV. The system is designed to provide ship personnel with all the basic alarms and status information they require in order to maintain the safe and efficient operation of the machinery, auxiliary systems and other relevant equipment. The system features built-in self-diagnostics, an intuitive, user-friendly interface and a fail-safe redundant network to enhance safety and reliability. BCS has previous experience working on NSS projects having been subcontracted by Hawboldt Industries to design and build the winch drive system for the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV). Two NATO member nations have opted to purchase Rheinmetall's ROSY rapid smoke/obscurant system for protecting their vehicle families. This versatile modular system thus continues to expand its presence in the global force protection market. The two orders are worth several million euros. Delivery of 126 systems to Spanish defence contractor URO Vehículos Especiales S.A. (UROVESA) has already begun. UROVESA will be installing these systems in 126 out of 139 VAMTAC protected patrol vehicles purchased by the Portuguese armed forces in July 2018, according to Rheinmetall. Delivery of the systems will be complete in March 2020. Pre-series delivery in response to another order begins in May 2019, this time from Belgium. Here, Rheinmetall is acting as subcontractor for the British company Jankel, which is supplying the Belgian Army with the Light Troop Transport Vehicle, or LTTV. All 199 of the vehicles are being prepared for integration of the system, in addition to the supply of control units and launchers for 167 vehicles. Series production commences in February 2020 and will be complete the same year. These two orders mean that ROSY will soon be in service in no fewer than eleven countries. ROSY provides protection from surprise attacks by creating a wall of smoke/obscurant that renders vehicles invisible to the enemy. Unlike conventional smoke/obscurant systems, it not only produces an instantaneous, extensive, multispectral interruption in the line of sight, but also generates a dynamic smoke screen that provides moving assets with long-lasting protection. Ocean Industries Inc. will build four tugs for the Royal Canadian Navy. The firm from Isle‑aux-Coudres, Quebec, was awarded the contract for $102 million under the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The new tugs will provide towing, firefighting and other critical support services to the Royal Canadian Navy. They will replace the navy's five civilian-crewed Glen-class large tugs and two Fire-class rescue boats. Two of the tugs will go to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in British Columbia. The other two will be delivered to CFB Halifax in Nova Scotia. The first two tugs are scheduled to be delivered in 2021. The last two tugs will be delivered in 2023. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/viking-to-put-special-missions-aircraft-on-tour-updates-on-defence-industry-developments

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  May 31, 2023 | Local, Aerospace

  Remplacement d’avions militaires de surveillance | Appel d’offres : Bombardier met Boeing au défi

  Le ton monte entre les prétendants au contrat pour le remplacement des avions militaires de surveillance d’Ottawa. Si Boeing est convaincu de sa supériorité, il ne devrait avoir « aucun problème » à soutenir un appel d’offres, suggère Bombardier — un terrain sur lequel le géant américain n’ose pas s’aventurer.

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  January 5, 2021 | Local, Aerospace

  Canada’s New Drone Can Better Surveil Its Challenging Arctic Environment

  BY KEVIN M. BAERSON After years of experimentation and analysis, the government of Canada has procured a new Hermes 900 StarLiner from Israeli UAV manufacturer Elbit Systems that can withstand and patrol its massive, inhospitable Arctic territory. Extreme weather with high winds and low temperatures, limited and unreliable satellite communication and navigation, and continuous darkness during the winter months make controlling UAVs in the Arctic especially challenging. Combined with a lack of ground infrastructure, both line of sight and satellite control of a UAV can become nearly impossible. The hope is that the Starliner can conquer these harsh Arctic conditions. This version of Elbit's Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) military UAV is fully certified to operate in civilian airspace and will take off from and land on civilian airfields. It will perform myriad operations to reduce harmful environmental impacts, including detection of oil pollution and wildlife surveying, as well as ice patrol and reconnaissance. It will also support search and rescue, humanitarian efforts and illegal fishing enforcement, and will aid the development and regulation of Canada's drone industry. The $36.16 million contract includes communication links, ground control stations, sensor packages, training and the optional purchase of spare parts. The Starliner is expected to be delivered by December 2022, but procurement has been years in the making. Arctic Takeoff In 2017, Canadian officials began research and development test flights using a Sea Hunter drone produced by Alabama-based Griffon Aerospace. The data collected, including BVLOS results, contributed to developing requirements for the eventual Hermes purchase. Timothy Choi, a maritime strategy expert and Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, has said the Canadian government had limited options in its search for a proven maritime drone with Arctic capabilities. “Large maritime surveillance drones—that is, ones equipped with downward-looking radar and AIS [automatic identification system] receivers to detect shipping—have not been as prevalent in the global drone market as their land-centric counterparts,” Choi told the website Eye On The Arctic. “Of these, there are even fewer that have been tested in Arctic conditions.” The model Canada is acquiring has been undergoing operational trials in Iceland via the European Maritime Safety Agency since summer 2019. At 1.6 tons, the StarLiner includes detect and avoid (DAA) systems, redundant datalinks and an advanced terrain avoidance warning system. Its ability to automatically take off and land in near-zero visibility, and to sustain deicing procedures and direct lightning strikes, makes it ideal for the Arctic's extreme weather challenges. According to Canadian officials, the new UAV can operate at up to 72 degrees north latitude and has a range of more than 1,400 nautical miles. It comes equipped with back-up command and control and navigation systems, electrical optical infrared camera, synthetic aperture radar and a mapping camera system. For now, the majority of Canada's Arctic surveillance data will continue to come from RADARSAT, the country's remote sensing earth observation satellite program. But while the satellites can detect emergencies such as an oil spill, their brief visits over the Arctic make it difficult to identify causes and consequences. The same is true for identifying nefarious activities such as illegal dumping and unpermitted fishing. “The ability of a drone to loiter for long periods of time with higher resolution sensors will help fill this gap,” Choi explained. “Operationally, the new drone will greatly help ‘connect the dots' when it comes to surveilling Arctic waters and enforcing Canadian regulations.” Drone Diplomacy While this Hermes version will be used in civilian missions, its acquisition is just one part of Canada's Arctic Unmanned Aircraft System Initiative, and it will join the country's National Aerial Surveillance Program's manned aircraft fleet. With 75% of Canada's coastline and 55% of its landmass located in the Arctic, Canada and its main regional rival, Russia, potentially contest for resources and the new shipping routes being created by global warming. Russia is deploying a fleet of dual-use extreme-weather UAVs featuring a GIRSAM alternative navigation system. China, which is talking about a “Polar Silk Road,” also is developing dual-use UAVs optimized for Arctic conditions. “Canada is committed to protecting our endangered species and our marine environment,” Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement. “Integrating remotely piloted aircraft into Transport Canada's fleet will make federal surveillance operations more robust than ever.” https://insideunmannedsystems.com/canadas-new-drone-can-better-surveil-its-challenging-arctic-environment/