2021 Halifax International Security Forum – Anita Anand Opening Remarks

On the same subject

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  June 3, 2019 | Local, Naval

  No icebreakers in federal government’s $15.7B plan for new coast-guard ships

  By Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The Canadian Coast Guard's recent struggles resupplying northern communities and rescuing ice-jammed ferries appear set to continue despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to spend $15.7 billion on "a complete fleet renewal." That's because none of the 18 vessels the government announced last week that it plans to buy will be an icebreaker, meaning the coast guard will be forced to continue relying on its existing icebreaker fleet for the foreseeable future. Many of those are nearing — or have already exceeded — their expected lifespans, which has resulted in breakdowns and other problems that have affected coast-guard operations, such as resupply runs and assisting ferries in winter. Federal procurement minister Carla Qualtrough acknowledged on the sidelines of the annual Cansec arms-trade show this week "there's definitely a capability gap on icebreakers," but wouldn't say when it would be addressed. Qualtrough instead indicated that any announcement on more ships for the coast guard would likely come after the government adds a third shipyard to the two that are already partners in the federal shipbuilding plan. "There's definitely more ships coming," she said on Thursday. "It will really be dependent on how long it takes the third yard to get itself ready to build the kind of ships we need." The search is expected to start in the coming weeks, but while many observers expect Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec City to emerge victorious, a senior government official maintained a decision is unlikely before October's election. The government's planned $15.7-billion investment unveiled last week includes two Arctic patrol ships to be built by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax and 16 so-called multipurpose vessels from Seaspan Shipbuilding in Vancouver. But those vessels are what officials describe as "ice-capable," rather than icebreakers, meaning the coast guard will need to continue to rely on its existing fleet for many of its operations. The icebreaker fleet did receive a boost on Thursday, when the Canadian Coast Guard officially welcomed the CCGS Molly Kool to its ranks after several months of conversion work at Davie. The CCGS Molly Kool is the first of three second-hand icebreakers that Davie has sold to the government, which the coast guard has said it plans to use for the next 15 to 20 years to fill any gaps until replacements are built. But while the government is spending millions to refit its current icebreakers, which are on average 35 years old, and keep them running as long as possible, the question remains when those replacements will arrive. The only new icebreaker currently in the government's multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan is the polar-class CCGS John G. Diefenbaker, which was expected in 2017 before various delays pushed it back to the next decade. "We haven't built a coast guard-designed icebreaker since 1983. That was the last time," said Rob Huebert, an expert on the coast guard at the University of Calgary. "And anything we have bought is usually second-hand from industry." The coast guard doesn't have clout in Ottawa, Huebert said, which has translated into a lack of long-term planning or investment by successive governments — except when there are political points to be scored. And while the addition of a third yard to the federal shipbuilding plan should mean icebreakers will follow soon after, Huebert said it is all ad hoc and will simply lead to the same problems down the road. "I get incensed by the fact that we do not have any form of a long-term coast-guard renewal for icebreakers." Documents obtained by The Canadian Press warned more than a third of the coast guard's 26 large vessels, including its icebreakers, had exceeded their expected lifespans — and that many wouldn't survive until replacements arrived. The fleet's advanced age was also already affecting the coast guard's ability to do its job, including reduced search-and-rescue coverage, ferry-service disruptions and cancelled resupply runs to Arctic and coastal communities. —Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2019/05/31/no-icebreakers-in-federal-governments-15-6b-plan-for-new-coast-guard-ships/#.XPFqzBZKiUl

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  November 7, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  CAE signs four major Eurpoean training deals

  Written by Wings Staff The international expansion of CAE continues with four major training agreements announced in Madrid, Spain, during the 2018 European Airline Training Symposium at the 2018 European Airline Training Symposium. This includes deals with CityJet, easyJet, Polish Airlines and Vueling Airlines. easyJet deal The agreement with easyJet is the largest new contract of the four, valued at more than $170 million over the next 10 years. Under the agreement, all of easyJet's pilots will train at CAE, which will expand its training network to provide the airline with three new European pilot training locations, equipped with a fleet of CAE's latest XR Series flight simulators. CAE will provide easyJet with state-of-the-art pilot training solutions at training centres located in London-Gatwick and Manchester in the UK, as well as Milan, Italy. During easyJet's fiscal year 2018, ending September 30, 2018, the airline has recruited 460 pilots, which is a pilot recruitment record for the airline as it continues to expand across Europe. In the last year alone easyJet has added bases to its network in Berlin Tegel and Bordeaux and now flies more than 1,000 routes on over 300 Airbus A320 family aircraft. In July 2018 easyJet took delivery of the first of 30 A321neo aircraft. As part of the contract, CAE will build a new training centre in London-Gatwick with a dedicated space to serve easyJet's training needs. It will deploy nine Airbus A320-family full-flight simulators (FFSs) and three flight training devices (FTDs) in the new London-Gatwick centre. The agreement also includes two additional training locations in Manchester, UK, and Milan, Italy. The centres will be ready for training starting in the second half of 2019. “This represents one of the biggest deals of its kind in Europe in the last five years and we are pleased to be working with CAE as a trusted and highly innovative training provider to help ensure easyJet is a centre of excellence for crew training,” said Chris Browne, easyJet's chief operating officer. The agreement will see easyJet become the launch customer for new CAE 600XR FTDs, featuring the Tropos 6000XR collimated visual system and a fully enclosed instructor area. easyJet will also utilize the CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulator with features like CAE XR simulation fidelity and instructor interface, CAE XR lesson and flight-plan upload capabilities. CAE has been delivering pilot training solutions to easyJet pilots since 2004. In 2010, easyJet selected CAE as its launch partner for a cadet Pilot Programme based on the Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL). To date, CAE has selected, assessed, trained and delivered more than 900 co-pilots and captains through the easyJet MPL Integrated ATPL and type-rating training programs for the airline. LOT Polish Airlines deal CAE also reached an exclusive two-year pilot training agreement with LOT Polish Airlines (LOT), flag carrier of Poland, on various Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer aircraft platforms. The airline's pilots began training earlier this fall at multiple CAE training locations in Europe, including CAE Amsterdam, CAE Madrid, CAE London Gatwick and CAE Stockholm. “This agreement helps us invest in the future growth of LOT and helps us attract new pilots on the global competitive aviation market,” said Maciej Wilk, chief operations officer of LOT. The airline's first new pilots have already started their training with CAE. CAE and LOT Polish Airlines share a long-standing relationship of more than 10 years, with the provision of pilot training. “It's an honour to support the growing pilot training needs of LOT Polish Airlines across CAE's training network in Europe, near our airline partner's base in Warsaw,” said Nick Leontidis, CAE's group president, Civil Aviation Training Solutions. CityJet deal CAE also signed an exclusive long-term pilot training agreement with regional airline CityJet. Based in Dublin, Ireland, CityJet operates a fleet of 44 regional jets on a network of wet lease and scheduled services across Europe. CityJet employs over 1,200 staff with crew bases in Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Paris, Stockholm, Tallinn and Vilnius. CityJet operated over 80,000 flights in the last year carrying over 4.7 million passengers. Under terms of the agreement, CAE will deliver Bombardier CRJ900 pilot training to the airline for a period of eight years following the start of training expected by May 2020. As a result, CAE will deploy a new CAE 7000XR series CRJ900/1000 full-flight simulator (FFS) at CAE Amsterdam by 2020, and will update its current CRJ200/900 FFS to the latest CRJ900 configuration at CAE Copenhagen by the end of 2019. CAE instructors will also provide Bombardier CRJ900 type-rating training at CAE Copenhagen. The airline's flight and cabin crew will continue to train on the platform at CAE Amsterdam, CAE Brussels, CAE Copenhagen and CAE Stockholm. Additionally, to support CityJet's growth plans and meet its training needs, CAE will train the airline's future pilots starting with 12 cadets next year, building on its previous agreement. As part of their 18-month training program, cadets will complete their ground school and flight training at CAE Oxford and CAE Phoenix. Upon successful completion of their training, graduates will be employed by CityJet. “CAE has been a tremendous partner for CityJet over the past few years, developing our future pilots, and providing an outstanding training experience to our pilots and cabin crew,” said Capt. Robert Campbell Smith, General Manager Flight Operations at CityJet. “With this announcement, the increased capacity and the upgraded simulator at CAE Copenhagen will ensure our training needs will be met in the coming years.” CAE explains it has been CityJet's training partner of choice since 2016, providing cadet to captain and cabin crew training, as well as crew resourcing services. Vueling Airlines deal CAE also reached a deal to launch a cadet pilot training program in partnership with Vueling Airlines based in Barcelona, Spain. CAE will select, assess and train up to 80 new pilots over the next four years for the European airline. Starting in the fall of 2018, the selected candidates will begin an 18-month training program at CAE Madrid. The first group of Vueling's cadets will begin EASA theoretical knowledge training at CAE's training centre in Madrid, followed by flight training at CAE Phoenix and CAE Oxford before returning to CAE Barcelona to complete their Airbus A320 type-rating training. “We are excited to partner with CAE and we are confident that our training partner of choice will deliver professional pilots who will be ready to fly confidently,” said Alberto Guerrero, pilots training director at Vueling. CAE has been providing pilot and cabin crew training to Vueling for almost 15 years. More than 1,000 pilots and cabin crew members have been trained for the Spanish carrier, which is part of the International Airlines Group. https://www.wingsmagazine.com/news/cae-europe-15962

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  September 13, 2021 | Local, C4ISR

  NATO Innovation Challenge – The invisible threat: Countering cognitive warfare//Défi de l’innovation de l’OTAN – La menace invisible : Contrer la guerre cognitive

  NATO Innovation Challenge – The invisible threat: Countering cognitive warfare The Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), on behalf of Canada, will be hosting the Fall 2021 NATO Innovation Challenge – The invisible threat: Countering cognitive warfare. The theme of this pitch-style event is understanding and protecting the cognitive domain. NATO is looking for tools and measures to identify, assess and protect against attacks on NATO forces and NATO Allies in the cognitive domain. Successful innovators will pitch their best solutions and tools to a panel of experts from NATO countries. On top of international exposure and cash prizes for the best solutions, there will be special recognition for the top “Made in Canada” solution. In order to be considered for the additional Canadian prize, a subsequent eligibility criteria will be applied. For more information on eligibility, visit the IDEaS Web site. Tap into an engaged audience that could lead to meaningful contacts with the international community! To apply, visit the NATO Innovation Challenge Page. Submit your entry by Thursday, October 21, 2021. The IDEaS Team Défi de l'innovation de l'OTAN – La menace invisible : Contrer la guerre cognitive Le programme Innovation pour la défense, l'excellence et la sécurité (IDEeS) et le Commandement des Forces d'opérations spéciales du Canada (COMFOSCAN), au nom du Canada, seront les hôtes du Défi de l'innovation de l'OTAN Automne 2021 – La menace invisible : Contrer la guerre cognitive (disponible en anglais seulement). Le thème de cet événement de style présentation est la compréhension et la protection du domaine cognitif. L'OTAN recherche des outils et des mesures pour identifier, évaluer et protéger contre les attaques sur les forces de l'OTAN et les Alliés de l'OTAN dans le domaine cognitif. Les innovateurs retenus présenteront leurs meilleures solutions et outils à un panel d'experts des pays de l'OTAN. En plus de l'exposition internationale et des prix en espèce pour les meilleures solutions, il y aura une reconnaissance spéciale pour la meilleure solution « Fabriquée au Canada ». Afin d'être considéré pour le prix canadien supplémentaire, un critère d'admissibilité subséquent sera appliqué. Pour plus d'informations sur l'éligibilité, visitez le site Web IDEeS. Connectez avec un public engagé qui pourrait conduire à des contacts significatifs avec la communauté internationale ! Pour postuler, visitez la page Défi de l'innovation de l'OTAN (disponible en anglais seulement). Soumettez votre candidature avant le jeudi 21 octobre 2021. L'équipe IDEeS