DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Industry representatives have been talking about the possibility that the Type 26 design will need to be altered significantly to meet Canadian requirements. There have been suggestions that the length of the ship will have to be increased by 10 metres to better accommodate a Canadian crew size. Questions about such a possibility were even raised by MPs at a Commons defence committee meeting last month.
But the Department of National Defence says there's nothing to such claims. DND spokeswoman Ashley Lemire points out that Lockheed Martin's proposal, based on the BAE Type 26, meets the requirements outlined in the Canadian government's request for proposal. “Therefore, there is no need to lengthen the proposed design to meet Canada's requirements,” she said.
DND procurement chief Pat Finn also faced similar questions from Conservative MPs during the Commons defence committee meeting last month. The Conservatives raised concerns about about whether the Type 26 had the speed or size to meet Canadian requirements. MPs also asked questions about whether the cost of the Canadian Surface Combatant program was increasing from $60 billion-$65 billion to $77 billion. Finn said there are no issues on speed or size for the Type 26. “The requirement for the Canadian Surface Combatant set standards for speed, berths, etc., so there's no cost increase to the bid because of speed or berth,” Finn explained to MPs. “There's been no documentation prepared and nothing has come across my desk that says there's a cost increase to $77 billion.”
January 6, 2023 | Local, Aerospace
Bombardier’s CEO is concerned that Canada is considering awarding a sole-source contract to Boeing for the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft project.
May 19, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
The lesson from this history is simple. Cutting defence spending in times of austerity is a bipartisan affair in Canada. This is owing less to politics than arithmetic. DND's budget –which typically ranges from 1/5 to 1/4 of total federal departmental discretionary spending –is too big to be excluded from any serious spending restraint initiative. This is well understood by Liberals, Conservatives and the Finance Department. The COVID-19 Recession and its Impact No one knows how deep or how long the COVID-19-induced recession will be. But every serious analyst agrees it will produce the sharpest drop in output since the Great Depression. The International Monetary Fund, for example, projects a 6.2 per cent annualized decline in GDP for Canada,1nearly double that of the 2009 recession. And already the government's fiscal response is without precedent and will lead to the largest deficit in postwar Canadian history (at least 10 per cent of GDP, or over $200 billion). This does not mean that Ottawa will snap into austerity mode next year. The economy will likely be too weak for that kind of action and cutting government spending is not in the Trudeau government's DNA to begin with... One big difference between now and the past is that there will be enormous pressure on Ottawa after the recession to boost spending in a wide range of areas which have been exposed in the pandemic. These include public health funding, medical research, pandemic prevention and mitigation, the social safety net, and industries particularly hard hit during the recession. There are also Liberal election campaign commitments from 2019 to honour –almost none of which had been implemented pre-pandemic –of which national defence is conspicuously absent. ...this could produce a perfect storm for Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE). This was always a big risk associated with a defence policy that had its funding ramped up gradually over many years. As the Harper government amply demonstrated, it is relatively easy to reduce or eliminate the rate of planned increases to defence funding –the government took almost no flak for doing so in 2010. Making matters worse, DND has failed to come anywhere near meeting the spending trajectory profiled in SSE, as David Perry has analyzed thoroughly. Which means flattening DND's budget ramp is even more tempting for any government in austerity or even re-prioritization mode. Would a change in government matter here? Unlikely. While the Conservatives are more committed to national defence and the Canadian Armed Forces than the Liberals, they would likely see deficit reduction as their top priority, and it is virtually impossible to have meaningful expenditure restraint that doesn't involve national defence [what the Harper government did from 2010 on]. Conclusion Over the past generation, recessions and the fiscal consolidation that has followed them have had a seriously negative impact on DND's budget. The COVID-19 recession could be the most severe Canada has faced in at least 40 years. It has already resulted in the largest peacetime deficit in Canadian history. And, because of the pandemic, government priorities have changed radically overnight. The future for SSE and its associated funding does not look bright. National Defence probably has a year or two before the crunch hits. Now is therefore the time for strategic thinking and serious priority setting among the political, public service and miitary leadership to ensure that the 2020s don't become another decade of darkness. Eugene Lang is Adjunct Professor, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, and Fellow, Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He was chief of staff to two ministers of National Defence in the Chrétien and Martin governments and served as an official in the Department of Finance. The 2020s most certainly will be “another decade of darkness”. It is not improbable that the Canadian military, if the Liberals win the next election, will effectively end up as a constabulary/militia force with domestic response to natural disasters of various sorts as its primary function along with very token commitments to UN peacekeeping missions. Bye bye to serious numbers of new RCAF fighters, to serious numbers of new RCN frigates, and to the needed large funding to renew NORAD's North Warning System [see this post: “So Will the Canadian Government Put Some Big Bucks into Modernizing NORAD's North Warning System?“]. And bye bye to any meaningful military participation in NATO. Canada will then finally be defenceless against help from the US ( the following quote is from the last sentence of this earlier CGAI paper's Executive Summary: “Throughout its 60-year existence, NORAD has been Canada's “defence against help.”). Any American administration will have no hesitation in demanding the use of Canadian territory and waters for its own defence purposes if our efforts fall well below what the US thinks necessary. US Air Force bases at Cold Lake, Yellowknife, Goose Bay and a US Navy one at St. John's anyone? Take a look at this as an example of an increasingly prevalent Canadian progressive view; and Justin Trudeau's “base” is progressive to the max: Spending $19 billion on fighter jets won't fight COVID-19 or climate change Instead of buying a new weapons system, the federal government should disarm and invest in a Green New Deal There it is. Plus earlier from Mr Lang: Is the “business Liberal” extinct? By the way the photo at the top of the post is of the Avro CF-100 Canuck interceptor, the first jet fighter developed in Canada–to defend against Soviet bombers...and US help. Mark Collins
February 15, 2020 | Local, Naval
Hello, There is only one week left to apply for the Corrosion Detection in Ships Sandbox (applications due by 19 Feb)! We have received a number of technical questions from innovators and have prepared a short FAQ in response to help those interested to best complete their application. We are looking forward to seeing your ingenious ways of finding corrosion trouble spots for the Royal Canadian Navy in action. FAQs on the Corrosion Detection in Ships Sandbox Thank you, The IDEaS Team --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bonjour, Il ne reste plus qu'une semaine pour soumettre votre application pour l'Environnement protégé relatif à la détection de la corrosion sur les navires de la Marine royale canadienne (l'échéance est le 19 février)! Nous avons déjà reçu un certain nombre de questions techniques de la part d'innovateurs. Sur ce, nous avons préparé une foire aux questions dans le but d'offrir des réponses pour appuyer les personnes qui souhaitent compléter leur demande. Nous sommes prêts à recevoir vos solutions novatrices pour détecter la corrosion à bord des navires. Foire aux questions sur l'Environnement protégé relative à la détection de la corrosion sur les navires de la Marine royale canadienne Merci, L'équipe IDEeS Hello, There is only one week left to apply for the Corrosion Detection in Ships Sandbox (applications due by 19 Feb)! We have received a number of technical questions from innovators and have prepared a short FAQ in response to help those interested to best complete their application. We are looking forward to seeing your ingenious ways of finding corrosion trouble spots for the Royal Canadian Navy in action. FAQs on the Corrosion Detection in Ships Sandbox Thank you, The IDEaS Team --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bonjour, Il ne reste plus qu'une semaine pour soumettre votre application pour l'Environnement protégé relatif à la détection de la corrosion sur les navires de la Marine royale canadienne (l'échéance est le 19 février)! Nous avons déjà reçu un certain nombre de questions techniques de la part d'innovateurs. Sur ce, nous avons préparé une foire aux questions dans le but d'offrir des réponses pour appuyer les personnes qui souhaitent compléter leur demande. Nous sommes prêts à recevoir vos solutions novatrices pour détecter la corrosion à bord des navires. Foire aux questions sur l'Environnement protégé relative à la détection de la corrosion sur les navires de la Marine royale canadienne Merci, L'équipe IDEeS