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August 3, 2024 | Local, Naval

Ottawa quietly announces cost of building new supply ships has jumped by almost $1 billion | CBC News

The cost to build the navy's often-delayed, long-anticipated supply ships has shot up once again — this time by almost $1 billion — the federal procurement department announced Friday.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/navy-supply-ships-cost-1.7284133

On the same subject

  • RTCA announces new training agreement with Mannarino Systems & Software

    October 9, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

    RTCA announces new training agreement with Mannarino Systems & Software

    RTCA, Inc. announced that under a new training agreement with Mannarino Systems & Software, Inc. four new technical seminars will be available in 2020 expanding the suite of training programs and seminars that RTCA provides for the aviation industry. The seminars will offer aviation industry participants proficient domain knowledge on topics relevant to current challenges in aircraft systems, software and electronic hardware development. “I am pleased to be partnering with MANNARINO in broadening our training catalog”, said Terry McVenes, president and CEO of RTCA. “These new courses will continue our goal to facilitate the use of key documents by our stakeholders and further the understanding of developing and using global standards and guidance.” “We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to work with RTCA and bring our practical experience, methods and efficient approaches to satisfying regulatory requirements on increasingly complex development projects” indicated John Mannarino, president of Mannarino Systems & Software. Details and dates for the new seminars will be announced shortly. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/rtca-announces-new-training-agreement-with-mannarino-systems-software

  • RCAF participates in highest-level simulated mission circling the globe

    November 19, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

    RCAF participates in highest-level simulated mission circling the globe

    by Bill Brown From Sept. 9 to 20, 2019, personnel from Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Aurora CP-140 fleet participated Exercise Coalition Virtual Flag (CVF) 19-4, which is led by the United States Air Force (USAF). More than 450 joint and coalition warfighters, located at 23 sites and on three different continents, participated. Canadian participants used the Aurora procedure crew trainer (PCT) mission simulator located in 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron's Thorney Island Simulation Centre at 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S., to participate in the virtual exercise. Using distributed mission training (DMT) architecture, the PCT was connected to dozens of combat missions and flight simulators throughout Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The exercise was hosted by the 705th Combat Training Squadron (CTS) at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. “Coalition Virtual Flag is an opportunity for our coalition and joint partners to get together. It's a theatre-level exercise that we can practice our tactics, techniques and procedures,” explained the United States Air Force's LCol Angela Messing, commander of 705th CTS. “It takes place in the virtual and simulated world with environment generators that replicate the exact threats that we're facing.” Canadian planning for the annual complex, joint warfare simulation started almost a year ago, with 404 Squadron's modeling and simulation experts working closely with the Royal Canadian Navy's Distributed Mission Operations Centre, the RCAF Aerospace Warfare Centre's modelling and simulation co-ordination team, and modelling and simulation planners Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland Air Force Base. 404 Squadron and 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron provided two crews to complete the five missions. Crew planning took place over several days, and included preparing for authentic anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare tasks. The Aurora crews faced a multi-threat, open conflict simulation scenario, and worked alongside allies from the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. Exercise Coalition Virtual Flag represents the highest level of training that can be achieved through simulation. The crews must fight together or fail together. Miscommunication on and off their own aircraft can have deadly results, with friendly units engaged by opposing force weapons systems. The Aurora is a very capable surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft and, using its advanced sensors, has abundant tactical information to share with supported fighting forces. Adding to the opportunity of exercising in a coalition DMT environment, crews conducted tactics development and confirmation for two tactical electronic warfare instructor course mentors. With the centre of excellence residing in 404 Squadron's Simulation Flight, the CP-140 fleet will continue to advance its simulation training capabilities. Several small-scale monthly DMT exercises are planned with the Navy's Distributed Mission Operations Centre and ships' combat teams over the coming months. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/rcaf-participates-in-highest-level-simulated-mission-circling-the-globe

  • Canada Needs New Aircraft, Could The F-35 Fit The Bill?

    February 21, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

    Canada Needs New Aircraft, Could The F-35 Fit The Bill?

    As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. by David Axe Follow @daxe on TwitterL Key point: Canada, like Switzerland, likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. Canada for the third time in a decade is trying to replace its aging F/A-18A/B Hornet fighter jets. With every year the acquisition effort drags on, the condition of the Royal Canadian Air Force's fast-jet fleet grows direr. “The politically-charged competition to replace Canada's aging fleet of fighter jets will rocket forward at the end of May [2019] as the federal government releases a long-anticipated, full-fledged tender call,” Murray Brewster reported for CBC News. Four companies are vying for the multibillion-dollar contract for as many as 88 fighters that would replace the RCAF's 1980s-vintage Hornets, which in Canadian service are designated “CF-18.” Saab, Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin all are in the running, respectively offering the Gripen, Eurofighter, F/A-18E/F and F-35A. The manufacturers will have until the end of 2019 to submit bids, CBC News reported. But the RCAF hardly can wait. The RCAF acquired 138 F/A-18A/Bs from McDonnell Douglas starting in 1982. In early 2019, 85 of the original Hornets, all more than 30 years old, comprise Canada's entire fighter fleet. The Canadian Hornets are unreliable and lack modern systems. In 2010, Canada's Conservative Party government announced plans to acquire 65 new F-35 stealth fighters by 2020. But the government never fairly compared the F-35 to rival fighter types such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Auditor General of Canada concluded in a 2018 report. "National Defense did not manage the process to replace the CF-18 fleet with due diligence." In 2015, Liberal Party candidate Justin Trudeau made the F-35 a major issue in his campaign for prime minister. Trudeau won. And in 2017, Ottawa backed off its proposal to purchase F-35s and, instead, launched a new competition to acquire 88 fighters. The aircraft would enter service in 2032, meaning the old Hornets would have to continue flying 12 years longer than the government originally planned. Ottawa briefly considered acquiring 18 F/A-18E/Fs from Boeing in order to bolster the early-model Hornets, but the government canceled the plan during a U.S.-Canada trade dispute in 2017. Canada was left with its original Hornets. In December 2017, the government announced it would spend around $500 million buying up to 25 1980s-vintage F/A-18s that Australia was declared surplus as it acquired its own fleet of new F-35s. The RCAF would add some of the Australian Hornets to the operational fleet and use others as sources of spare parts. But the government has no plan to keep its Hornets combat-ready as they enter their fourth and even fifth decade of service." We found that the CF-18 had not been significantly upgraded for combat since 2008, in part because [the Department of] National Defense expected a replacement fleet to be in place by 2020," the government auditors found. "Without these upgrades, according to the department, the CF-18 will become more vulnerable as advanced combat aircraft and air-defense systems continue to be developed and used by other nations." Against this backdrop, Brewster assessed the current fighter contenders, in particular, the Swedish Gripen and the American F-35. “There has been a rigorous political and academic debate about whether Canada should choose a legacy design from the 1990s, such as the Gripen, or the recently-introduced Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter,” Brewster wrote. “The Swedish air force is about the same size as the Royal Canadian Air Force,” Brewster pointed out, adding that Sweden and Canada also share geographic concerns. “The Gripen is intended for operations in rugged environments, such as Sweden's Arctic region,” Brewster wrote. “Canada's CF-18s occasionally operate from forward bases in the north, but those deployments are infrequent compared with the routine activity of the Swedes.” As part of its commitment to NATO, Canada also must be prepared for high-tech warfare in Europe. The Gripen lacks the radar-evading stealth features that in theory allow the F-35 to penetrate the most dangerous Russian-made air-defenses. But Brewster cited a March 2019 Swedish study that claimed Russian defenses are less fearsome than many observers believe. “Besides uncritically taking Russian data at face value, the three cardinal sins have been: confusing the maximal nominal range of missiles with the effective range of the systems; disregarding the inherent problems of seeing and hitting a moving target at a distance, especially targets below the horizon; and underestimating the potential for countermeasures against [anti-access area-denial]-systems,” Robert Dalsjo, Christopher Berglund and Michael Jonsson explain in their report "Bursting the Bubble." The stakes are high. If Canada fails a third time to buy a new fighter, it might find itself in the same unfortunate situation in which Switzerland has found itself. In April 2019 the Swiss air force is down to just 10 ready fighters with full-time pilots. The crisis is the result of the Swiss public's decision in a 2014 referendum to reject the air force's proposal to buy 22 new fighters to begin replacing 40-year-old F-5 Tigers. The Swiss air force in 2019 plans to remove from service 27 Tigers. The 26 Tigers that remain will perform limited duties. With the F-5 force shrinking and flying part-time, the Swiss air force increasingly relies on its 30 F/A-18C/Ds. To last that long, the F/A-18s need structural upgrades. The upgrade work has sidelined more than half of the Hornet fleet. Switzerland like Canada has relaunched its fighter competition. The same companies and designs that are competing in Canada, plus Dassault with the Rafale, are in the running in Switzerland. Intensive flight testing began in April 2019. Canada like Switzerland likely can't afford to fail again to buy new planes. The old Canadian Hornets probably won't last much longer. "The CF-18 will be disadvantaged against many potential adversaries, and its combat capability will further erode through the 2020s and into the 2030s," Ottawa's auditors warned. David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels War Fix, War Is Boring and Machete Squad. (This first appeared last year.) https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/canada-needs-new-aircraft-could-f-35-fit-bill-125556

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