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December 13, 2023 | International, Aerospace

Minister Blair appoints Michelle Douglas as the Canadian Armed Forces’ Honorary Colonel for Professional Conduct and Culture

The Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Bill Blair, has appointed Michelle Douglas as the Canadian Armed Forces’ first Honorary Colonel for Chief, Professional Conduct and Culture.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2023/12/minister-blair-appoints-michelle-douglas-as-the-canadian-armed-forces-honorary-colonel-for-professional-conduct-and-culture.html

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  • Webinar: The Future Of U.S. Foreign Military Sales

    January 19, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Webinar: The Future Of U.S. Foreign Military Sales

    This webinar took place January 15, 2021 and sponsored by Makino. In the final months of President Donald Trump's presidency, his administration notified Congress of billions in potential Foreign Military Sales – including the possibility of the UAE purchasing F-35s and MQ-9 Reapers, Taiwan to buy guided cruise missiles and reconnaissance pods for its F-16 fighters. In all, Congress was notified of sales worth up to $175 billion in 2020, though actual completed sales for the year totaled just $50.8 billion – a three-year low. Join us as we discuss: What the fate of these proposed transactions might be How a President Joe Biden administration may change course How the COVID-19 pandemic may influence sales How companies can navigate this changing environment Watch the full recording above. Panelists: Steve Trimble, Defense Editor, Aviation Week Network Lee Hudson, Pentagon Editor, Aviation Week Network Michael Bruno, Senior Business Editor, Aviation Week Network Moderated by Jen DiMascio, Executive Editor, Defense & Space, Aviation Week Network https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/z/webinar-future-us-foreign-military-sales

  • Heckler & Koch — maker of the Marine Corps M27 — is in dire straits

    June 13, 2019 | International, Other Defence

    Heckler & Koch — maker of the Marine Corps M27 — is in dire straits

    By Ian D'Costa For decades, German arms giant Heckler & Koch has served as the gold standard for military and civilian weapons manufacturing — building revolutionary and oftentimes game-changing rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, submachine guns and pistols for a variety of customers including special operations forces, conventional infantry units and law enforcement agencies. After a lackluster 2018, reports indicate that H&K is now struggling to keep its head above water, with the hopes that boosting sales in FY2019 buys the company at least another year to come out of the red and fix the situation it's in. The Tactical Wire recently reported that German business journals have already predicted the end for what was once one of the most powerful arms manufacturers in the world. In fact, the situation is so bad that, as The Firearm Blog reported just last month, H&K employees jointly voted to increase weekly work hours without paid overtime, as well as nixed a one-off payment of 400 Euros per head for the month of July, so as to provide their beleaguered company some form of relief. H&K's financial woes stem primarily from diminishing sales, so much so that FY2018 would have seen the company tank had it not been for “two bridging loans from an unnamed major shareholder.” As the company's preexisting contracts with various international buyers are fulfilled, it has faced immeasurable difficulty generating new large-scale contracts with any of its products. According to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, after KPMG conducted an audit of H&K in 2018, it was forced to insert a red flag warning that: “the lack of liquidity endangers the continued existence of Heckler & Koch." KPMG went on to state that the only way H&K would survive going forward is to generate a considerable bump in revenue over previous years, or face bankruptcy. Earlier this year, H&K completed production and delivery of the M27 IAR (a derivative of the HK416) to the US Marine Corps. However, contracts with countries in the process of revamping their small arms arsenals, such as Portugal, have failed to materialize with these countries opting for weapons from other manufacturers. 2019 has also seen the imposition of a multi-million dollar fine on H&K by a German court after it was discovered that the company violated Germany's War Weapons Control Act through the illegal sales of rifles to Mexican states affected considerably by drug-trade violence. H&K's hopes more than likely rest in securing a massive contract yet to be tendered by the German government for the long-term replacement of the German army's G36 assault rifles, another H&K product though one which didn't necessarily live up to the next-generation hype that earlier surrounded it. Whether or not H&K will win the contract is a completely different question altogether, as it's also standard German defense procurement procedure to take into account the fiscal health and economic well being of the companies which have bid for larger contracts... and that's not looking too good for H&K. It should also be noted that H&K is currently in the process of reequipping the French army with HK416 rifles to replace the FAMAS bullpup rifle platform with an overall mass order of over 93,000 units. The Norwegian government also contracted the company to supply HK416s to the Norwegian Armed Forces earlier this year. However, that might not be enough to save H&K. Should H&K lose out on the German G36 replacement contract, this could spell the end for the 71 year-old German small arms producer, and a potentially new beginning for a restructured company in its place. https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/gearscout/irons/2019/06/12/heckler-koch-maker-of-the-marine-corps-m27-is-in-dire-straits/

  • Air Force to fall nearly 150 pilots short of annual training goal

    September 11, 2023 | International, Aerospace

    Air Force to fall nearly 150 pilots short of annual training goal

    The shortfall makes it more difficult for the service to fill a pilot shortage of around 2,000 people that has persisted for years.

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