May 26, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
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July 19, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
/CNW Telbec/ - Aéro Montréal, Québec's aerospace cluster, welcomes major investments confirming the strategic and economic importance of the sector. In a...
January 21, 2019 | Local, Naval
DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN HMCS Corner Brook will be the first Canadian submarine to be equipped with a new communications system. The Universal Modular Masts or UMM for Canada's Victoria class submarines are part of an equipment suite provided by the Protected Military Satellite Communications project, according to the Department of National Defence. The estimated project cost for the submarine equipment suite, including installation, is approximately $70 million, while the overall PMSC project cost is approximately $592 million. The Protected Military Satellite Communication project is in collaboration with the U.S. and other allied nations and provides the Canadian military with secure, protected, jamming-resistant satellite communications on a near world-wide basis. The UMM will improve the Victoria-class as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform, according to the DND. The mast and its associated equipment suite will provide near real-time high-speed communications with shore. Corner Brook is in its Extended Docking Work Period and installation of the mast is now underway. Babcock Canada Inc. is handling the installation under the aegis of the Victoria In-Service Support Contract. It is being done at CFB Esquimalt in British Columbia. The equipment was acquired through a foreign military sales acquisition. The cost for PMSC-supplied submarine equipment, including UMMs, is approximately $35 million, according to the DND. Installation of the UMM on Corner Brook will be complete in 2020. Installation on the other three submarines will be finished by 2026. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/hmcs-corner-brook-to-become-first-sub-equipped-with-new-communications-system
February 11, 2019 | Local, Aerospace
Bob Weber / The Canadian Press Recent Russian moves in the Arctic have renewed debate over that country's intentions and Canada's own status at the top of the world. The newspaper Izvestia reported late last month that Russia's military will resume fighter patrols to the North Pole for the first time in 30 years. The patrols will be in addition to regular bomber flights up to the edge of U.S. and Canadian airspace. "It's clearly sending strategic messaging," said Whitney Lackenbauer, an Arctic expert and history professor at the University of Waterloo. "This is the next step." Russia has been beefing up both its civilian and military capabilities in its north for a decade. Old Cold-War-era air bases have been rejuvenated. Foreign policy observers have counted four new Arctic brigade combat teams, 14 new operational airfields, 16 deepwater ports and 40 icebreakers with an additional 11 in development. Bomber patrols have been steady. NORAD has reported up to 20 sightings and 19 intercepts a year. Commercial infrastructure has kept pace as well. A vast new gas field has been opened in the Yamal Peninsula on the central Russian coast. Control and development of the Northern Sea Route — Russia's equivalent of the Northwest Passage — has been given to a central government agency. Russian news sources say cargo volume is expected to grow to 40 million tonnes in 2020 from 7.5 million tonnes in 2016. Canada has little to compare. A road has been completed to the Arctic coast at Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories and work for a port at Iqaluit in Nunavut is underway. The first Arctic patrol vessel has been launched, satellite surveillance has been enhanced and a naval refuelling station built on Baffin Island. But most northern infrastructure desires remain unfilled. No all-weather roads exist down the Mackenzie Valley or into the mineral-rich central N.W.T. Modern needs such as high-speed internet are still dreams in most of the North. A new icebreaker has been delayed. Nearing the end of its term, the Liberal government has yet to table an official Arctic policy. Global Affairs Canada spokesman Richard Walker said in an email that the government is "firmly asserting" its presence in the North to protect Canada's sovereign Arctic territory. Walker said Canada cooperates with all Arctic Council members, including Russia, to advance shared interests that include sustainable development, the roles of Indigenous peoples, environmental protection and scientific research. "Given the harsh environment and the high cost of Arctic operations, Canada believes that cooperation amongst Arctic nations is essential," Walker wrote. "While we perceive no immediate military threat in the Arctic region, we remain vigilant in our surveillance of our Northern approaches." Canada needs to keep pace if only because it can't count on the current international order to hold, said John Higginbotham of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo. "If the globalized system fragments, we're going to get a world of blocs. The blocs will have power to close international shipping channels. "It's a dreadful strategic mistake for Canada to give up our own sea route." Arctic dominance would also give Russia a potent card to play, said Rob Huebert of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. "It gives you presence," he said. "Whenever there's issues that happen to occur elsewhere, we've already seen the behaviour of the Russians — they start doing overflights of other countries to bring pressure." Norway, the Baltics and the United Kingdom have all reported increased airspace violations, Huebert said. Few expect Russian troops to come pouring over the North Pole. The country is sticking with a United Nations process for drawing borders in Arctic waters and is a productive member of the eight-nation Arctic Council. "There's vigorous debate over whether their posture is offensive-oriented," Lackenbauer said. "The Russians insist this is purely defensive. It also offers possibilities for safe and secure shipping in the Northern Sea Route. "They're not doing anything wrong." Canada would be mistaken to ignore the awakening bear, said Ron Wallace of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute in Calgary. "It's important for Canadians to be aware of their Arctic and the circumpolar Arctic and what's going on in the North," he said. Canada is unlikely to take much from Russia's command-and-control style of development, Wallace said, but there are lessons to learn. Combining civilian and military infrastructure is one of them. "That's the kind of thinking I haven't seen here, but that's the thinking the Russians are using," he said. "They see the northern trade route as an excuse to put up military bases at the same time they're working with the Chinese to open up trade routes for the export of their resources." That would also help fulfil federal promises to territorial governments, said Wallace. "Somewhere in the middle there is a better policy for northern Canada." — Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960 https://www.burnabynow.com/strategic-messaging-russian-fighters-in-arctic-spark-debate-on-canada-s-place-1.23629355