MTU Maintenance Canada signs CF6-50 and accessory repair contract with Lockheed Martin

On the same subject

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  January 28, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Plus question pour le Canada de se retirer du très coûteux programme des F-35 américains

  Par Stéphane Parent | francais@rcinet.ca Le responsable de l'approvisionnement militaire au ministère de la Défense révèle que le Canada, l'un des neuf pays partenaires du programme de mise au point des F-35, n'a pas planifié de s'en retirer. Il semble qu'Ottawa ira de l'avant avec le versement de dizaines de millions de dollars pour le développement de cet avion de chasse F-35, même si le gouvernement fédéral continue d'étudier la pertinence ou non d'acheter ces appareils pour remplacer près d'une centaine de CF-18 qui ont plus de 40 ans d'usure. Le F-35 figure parmi les quatre modèles qui seront évalués à partir du printemps prochain dans un appel d'offres de 19 milliards, qui résultera dans l'acquisition de 88 nouveaux avions de combat. Le Canada a investi plus de 500 millions dans le programme des F-35 au cours des 20 dernières années, dont 54 millions l'an dernier. Son prochain paiement annuel doit être fait ce printemps, et il y en aura sans doute d'autres, étant donné que l'appel d'offres n'est pas censé se conclure avant 2021 ou 2022. Ce versement annuel permet au Canada de demeurer pendant encore un an membre du club des neuf partenaires dans le projet du futur avion de chasse F-35, dont la mise au point connaît des déboires majeurs. La stratégie de rester dans le camp du F-35 Le Canada demeure donc résolument dans le camp de l'aviation militaire américaine avec l'Australie, le Danemark, l'Italie, la Norvège, les Pays-Bas, le Royaume-Uni et la Turquie. Ces pays pourront soumettre des offres pour les contrats de milliards de dollars liés à la fabrication et à l'entretien des avions de chasse, mais aussi bénéficier de rabais s'ils décident d'en acheter. D'autres modèles de rechange proposés sont de conception européenne – le Gripen de Saab, le Typhoon du consortium Eurofighter et le Rafale de Dassault – et Ottawa privilégie une conception http://www.rcinet.ca/fr/2019/01/24/plus-question-pour-le-canada-de-se-retirer-du-tres-couteux-programme-des-f-35-americains/

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  May 19, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

  MDA: All-Domain C2 Key To Countering Hypersonic Missiles

  "We'll take anybody's sensors," MDA's John Bier said, "as long as it contributes to the missile warning, missile defense and space domain environment." By THERESA HITCHENSon May 14, 2020 at 2:44 PM WASHINGTON: Senior Missile Defense Agency officials say Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) will be fundamental to rapidly and seamlessly integrating future capability to track and intercept hypersonic and cruise missiles into its current architecture focused on ballistic missiles. “We need the ability to globally see, track and engage the threats in a multispectral environment in real time with persistent capabilities, so that we can provide the right data to the right targets,” MDA's chief architect Stan Stafira said. MDA has been able to develop its C2 network to link various layers in the overarching US missile defense architecture, but that integration has been achieved largely through “brute force,” John Bier, MDA program director for C2BMC, told a webinar sponsored by the Missile Defense Advocacy Association (MDAA) yesterday. “Where JADC2 is trying to drive the C2 community is: how do you make that easier?” MDA is working on first assessing how to tie in its current Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) architecture with JADC2 as it develops, then look at how to integrate its future planned capabilities “when applicable,” a MDA spokesperson clarified in an email. Toward that end, MDA is planning on participating in the Air Force's second “On Ramp” exercise of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) family of systems initiative aimed at developing a number of critical technologies to underpin JADC2, Bier said. The exercise, which would have involved a space-oriented scenario, was planned for last month, but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. After first being slipped to June, it now is slated for Aug. 31-Sept. 4 moved back to A MDA fully expects to be involved in the exercise, although Bier did not elaborate on exactly what role the agency would play or what systems might be involved. He said that MDA is working on spiral development of new technologies on an every two- to three-year cycle, but hopes to move even faster to integrate new capabilities. Part of that effort will involve moving to open standards, just as the ABMS program is doing now. “We'll take anybody's sensors,” Bier said, “as long as it contributes to the missile warning, missile defense, and space domain environment.” The ABMS On Ramp exercises are “great integration environments” to test out the new standards, he added. Bier said that up to now MDA has been successfully able to develop and manage a C2BMC system across the missile defense enterprise — one that links strategic systems such as the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GBMD) interceptors in silos in California and Alaska with regionally deployed, tactical systems such as Patriot batteries — in large part because of its special governance structure and flexible contractual authorities. Although Bier didn't say it, the obvious inference is that DoD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff may want to consider how to centralize authority over various service C2 and battle management programs and projects that will need to connect to make JADC2 a reality. “The JADC2 environment allows us to bring in multiple services along with MDA and the Intelligence Community and discuss these issues,” he said. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/mda-all-domain-c2-key-to-countering-hypersonic-missiles

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  December 14, 2018 | Local, Naval

  Trade tribunal puts frigate program back on track

  Murray Brewster · CBC News The federal government's plan to award to a group of companies led by Lockheed Martin Canada the contract to design and support the construction of the navy's new frigates has been — nominally — put back on track. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) has rescinded an order, issued late last month, that prevented the signing of the deal. The decision to reverse course was made Monday after Public Services and Procurement Canada "certified in writing that the ... procurement is urgent and that a delay in awarding the contract would be contrary to the public interest," according to a copy of the ruling. The decision opens the way for the government to finalize the contract, which is still under negotiation. The Lockheed Martin Canada-led team was selected in October as the preferred bidder after a nearly two-year-long competition to select an off-the-shelf design for the 15 new warships that eventually will replace the navy's frigates. One of the competitors, Alion, asked the CITT to investigate the procurement deal, saying the preferred warship design will need substantial changes and doesn't meet the navy's requirements as spelled out in the government tender. The company also has asked the Federal Court in a separate filing for a judicial review of the long-awaited decision. That case is still pending. The federal government hopes to be able to sign a contract this winter. The order to postpone implementing a deal could have had a devastating impact on the $60 billion program, which already has suffered a series of delays. One of the biggest concerns involved an anticipated production slowdown at the go-to shipyard for warship construction, Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax. The federal government is expecting gap of, possibly, 18 months between the completion of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships and the beginning of construction on the new frigates, known as Canadian Surface Combatants. The Liberal government has attempted to mitigate the slowdown by confirming the construction of six Arctic patrol ships. Further delays to the new frigates would have made that worse. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trade-tribunal-puts-frigate-program-back-on-track-1.4941507