OEMs will invest in Canadian content if they have procurement program stability

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  November 13, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Winners of 2019 AIAC awards honoured at Canadian Aerospace Summit

  Industry winners of three annual awards recognizing aerospace achievement, innovation, and excellence were honoured at the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada's Canadian Aerospace Summit. The 2019 winners are: James C. Floyd Award – Marc Parent, CEO of CAE Industry Excellence Award for Lifetime Achievement – John Saabas Industry Excellence Award for Small Business Innovation and Technology – Avior Integrated Products “The winners of this year's awards are champions of Canadian aerospace whose vision and achievements have strengthened the industry, making it more innovative and competitive both in Canada and in the global marketplace,” said Jim Quick, president and CEO of AIAC. “We are proud to celebrate their achievements, and on behalf of AIAC's board of directors and members, I thank them for their leadership and dedication to our industry.” About the Winners: James C. Floyd Award – Marc Parent, CEO of CAE Marc Parent is the CEO of CAE Inc. Under his leadership, CAE went from a company that was heavily in debt and trailing its competitors to one that is today the foremost provider of aviation and healthcare training services in the world. A true Canadian success story on the world stage, CAE has customers in 190 countries and over 10,000 employees around the world (nearly half of them in Canada). Parent is also a passionate champion for Canadian aerospace success. He has served as chair of AIAC and Aero Montreal, and he has participated in numerous government round tables and advisory boards to promote Canadian aerospace growth and achievement. Under his leadership CAE has offered nearly 3,000 co-op and internship positions to Canadian students, and through his efforts as part of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), it is estimated that 2,500 students across the country will have access to similar work-integrated learning opportunities. His efforts to create a culture of openness and diversity resulted in Randstad naming CAE Canada's 2nd best employer brand in 2018, and in 2019 CAE launched Women in Flight, a scholarship program that encourages more young women to become pilots. Named after the chief designer of the Avro Arrow, the James C. Floyd Award recognizes visionary individuals or teams whose outstanding achievements have contributed to the success of the Canadian aerospace industry. The 2019 award was sponsored by Bell Helicopter Textron Canada. Industry Excellence Award for Lifetime Achievement – John Saabas Holding a PhD in aerodynamics from McGill University, John Saabas spent 35 years at Pratt & Whitney Canada, including the last ten years as president, until retiring from the company earlier this year. His legacies of innovation, sustainability, and collaboration have had a profound impact on Canada's aerospace industry. Under his leadership, Pratt & Whitney Canada achieved a leadership position in all markets, with a portfolio of more than 64,000 engines in service and 13,000 customers worldwide. It certified over 100 engines during a 25-year period, and it expanded and transformed its global manufacturing capabilities, developing operations in China, Poland, the Mirabel Aerospace Centre, and the advanced manufacturing cells. Over the 10-year period of Saabas' leadership, his visionary commitment to greener, more sustainable aviation industry led to significant reductions by Pratt & Whitney Canada in greenhouse gas emissions and industrial process waste, non-recycled waste and water consumption. The company also launched the PW800 business aviation engine, which achieved double-digit improvements in fuel burn, emissions, and noise. As an industry leader, Saabas sought to leverage innovation and research to advance change in aerospace, and championed collaboration between all players of the Canadian aerospace cluster – including small and medium sized companies and universities — as an essential part of the industry's competitiveness. The Lifetime Achievement award is presented to an individual whose distinguished lifetime achievement through the exploration, development or utilization of aviation, space, or defence have led to their wide recognition as a “champion” of aerospace industry. Winners are celebrated for their outstanding leadership, commitment, promotion and consistent contribution to the continuous development of aerospace in Canada. The 2019 award was sponsored by L3Harris. Industry Excellence Award for Small Business Innovation and Technology – Avior Integrated Products Avior Integrated Products is a full-service manufacturer of lightweight structures and complex mechanical assemblies. The company has leveraged its fabrication capabilities in advanced composite details and complex machined components to become a competitive Tier III/II integrator of aircraft structures. Avior customers include leading aerospace manufacturers including Boeing, Bell Helicopter, Bombardier, Mitsubishi and Viking. In providing a competitive solution for its customers the company has invested significantly in creating a culture of innovation and introducing new technologies. In the last two years Avior commissioned its first robotic machining center, with another to follow shortly; launched its own Business Intelligence software system; converted two of its three business units into paperless production environments; and more recently, installed a collaborative robot to assist with certain shop-floor operations. The company's culture of innovation is supported by a dynamic team focused on execution and providing nimble and effective solutions. The transformation of the business is an on-going process and will include the introduction of AI technology in the administration areas of the company in the coming year. Avior has grown by 35 per cent in 2019 and is forecasting 20 per cent growth in 2020 in large part due to the benefits of transitioning to an Industry 4.0 business. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/winners-of-2019-aiac-awards-honoured-at-canadian-aerospace-summit

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  May 13, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  ‘Hard decisions are going to have to be made’: can vital defence procurements survive in a post-pandemic world?

  By NEIL MOSS MAY. 13, 2020 'When you are trying to fix a fiscal problem, inevitably national defence is part of the way governments have tended to try and fix that,' says defence procurement expert David Perry. In the midst of critical procurements that will set the framework for the Canadian military for years to come, questions remain on how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the oft-delayed projects. The pandemic has already impacted the two most high-profile defence procurement projects with another delay in the replacement of Canada's fighter fleet as well as a reduced capability at the shipyard that will be building the 15 new warships that will serve as the backbone of the Canadian Navy for decades to come. “Companies and government are always generally working hard trying to meet [the] schedule, and make up time wherever they can afterwards, but there's a limit what you can do to replace a few lost weeks of work,” said David Perry, a defence procurement expert and vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “The impacts are going to be tangible,” Mr. Perry said, adding that the picture is still murky about the final impact on the current procurements as defence companies are still trying to get a handle on the pandemic. The high-profile $19-billion project to replace Canada's fleet of CF-18 fighter jets was delayed a second time in 100 days last week, over a bidder's concern over completing its bid on time, according to a Canadian Press report. Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax shipyard, which has been tasked to build two central pieces for the future of the Canadian Navy in six Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships and 15 Canadian Surface Combatants, is running at half capacity with around 650 people working at the shipyard and 300 remotely, according to a CTV report. The two projects are projected to cost upwards of $4.3-billion and $60-billion, respectively. Mr. Perry also said the impact on the procurements will depend on what stage the project is in, with less effect for those still in design and requirement phases and more impact on projects in the midst of construction. He added that the impact will also depend on where the facilities are located, as the Irving shipyard in Nova Scotia faced a three-week shutdown, opposed to the Seaspan shipyards in B.C., which has continued relatively normal operations. A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence told The Hill Times that progress is still being made “where possible” on current and future equipment for the Canadian Forces. “While our focus must be on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain committed to the National Shipbuilding Strategy and other defence projects under Strong, Secure, Engaged,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We continue to meet regularly with PSPC [Public Services and Procurement Canada] to address the delivery of ongoing and future major procurement projects, and to assess and address the impact of the pandemic on these projects. However, given that the extent of COVID-19, or how long this situation will last, cannot be assessed at this time, it is not yet possible to determine the impact this situation will have on our projects,” the statement read, adding that the focus remains on continuing essential services, which include “domestic operations and search and rescue.” Former Air Force pilot Alan Stephenson said that there is “no doubt” that there will be “a huge impact” to defence procurement caused by the pandemic, pointing to the government's ballooning spending. Mr. Stephenson, a retired colonel who is now a senior associate at David Pratt and Associates, said the problem with the fighter jet procurement is being compounded by successive governments' use of military spending to solve other problems. “Now we find ourselves with ... fighters that will be over 50 years old,” he said. “And we'll be flying [the CF-18s] into the future.” “COVID has changed the game,” Mr. Stephenson said, adding that the focus on the Liberals' 2017 defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, will still be present, but there will be fiscal questions of its feasibility. “Hard decisions are going to have to be made,” he said, as the government will balance military requirements with economic needs. Mr. Perry said historically when the government has needed to slash spending, it has looked at the military. “When you are trying to fix a fiscal problem, inevitably national defence is part of the way governments have tended to try and fix that,” he said, adding that given the size of the defence budget, it is “virtually impossible” to address an economic situation without making some fiscal changes at the Department of National Defence. But he said that historical pattern may not continue as it's a different kind of fiscal problem for the government. “In a dynamic where you have real big impacts on consumer confidence and there's also, I think, fairly serious concerns about the availability of financing and liquidity in the civilian economy, potentially there's more of a room for DND and the Government of Canada writ large to be part of the economic solution here and not just part of the fiscal problem,” Mr. Perry said. Former naval officer Norman Jolin, who served in the Canadian Navy for 37 years and commanded the Halifax-class HMCS Montréal, said the last thing the government will want to do is cancel projects that it has already announced at the expense of Canadian workers. “The last thing [the government] would want to do in a world where we've lost so many jobs is to cause more people not to have jobs by cutting things,” he said. Mr. Jolin compared the National Shipbuilding Strategy to the construction of a trans-Canada railway in the 19th century. “This is jobs across Canada,” he said, adding that it is not just jobs at shipyards but throughout the supply chain including manufacturing jobs in southern Ontario. Mr. Jolin said with the procurements under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the lengthy timeline will mitigate the pandemic's impact. For the Canadian Surface Combatant procurement, the first ship isn't projected to be completed until the mid-2020s and the final delivery date for the entire fleet is in the late 2040s. He said while there may be minor delays in the short term, it shouldn't have much impact on when the ships are delivered in the end. But he said there is still much unknown about how the pandemic has affected the procurement process. Charles Davies, a retired colonel in the Armed Forces who spent time as the senior director responsible for procurement and equipment management policy at the Department of National Defence, also said the long timeline on projects should reduce the impact of any delay. “In the inherently long gestation periods of the major programs, the net impact should be limited,” he said. Mr. Davies, a CDA Institute fellow, said now can be a time for the government to look to make key investments in capabilities that will be needed in the future to defend its borders while at the same time keeping the economy afloat. He said unlike in the mid-1990s during the budget cuts under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, Canada is not in the geopolitical position to allow its defence budget to dissipate. “We're in a different world now,” he said, citing the “strategic environment” with more aggressive behaviour being seen from the Chinese and Russian governments. https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/05/13/hard-decisions-are-going-to-have-to-be-made-can-vital-defence-procurements-survive-in-a-post-pandemic-world/247826

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  November 24, 2022 | Local, Aerospace

  RCAF to look at 'revolutionary' vertical lift options to replace CH-146 Griffon

  As the RCAF launches into a project for its next tactical aviation platforms, it is closely following what allies are doing.