RCAF looking overseas to fill pilot shortage as commercial aviators stay away

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  March 6, 2020 | Local, C4ISR, Security

  Pentagon push to boost cybersecurity could affect Canadian suppliers

  We're at cyberwar every day' - Ellen Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for acquisition Murray Brewster · The Pentagon has been engaged in a quiet, deliberate effort to plug all of the cyber-holes in its high-tech systems and among its defence contractors — an operation that will soon spill across the border into Canada. Ellen Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, said today cybersecurity has been one of her biggest concerns since being appointed by the Trump administration two and a half years ago. Increasingly, major defence contractors have found themselves targeted by hackers from China and Russia who have stolen troves of sensitive data on new and existing weapons systems. "Bottom line is, I don't think the average American citizen understands that we're at cyberwar every day," Lord told the Conference of Defence Associations Institute's annual meeting in Ottawa today. The burden of keeping data secure is being placed on the companies themselves, she added. After consulting with the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. electronic spy service and the military's Cyber Command, the Pentagon rolled out a new program in January aimed at forcing defence contractors to deal with points of vulnerability. "We have written new cyber security standards that we are putting in all of our new contracts," said Lord. "We are looking at the defence industrial base and how they need to address cyber security and how we as a government can hold them accountable." The initiative includes a cyber security "certification and accreditation" system, similar to the International Organization for Standardization. Lord said it's not a one-size fits all solution and that companies looking to do business with the Pentagon will have to meet one of five levels of certification, depending upon the contract. The defence industrial complexes of Canada, Britain and Australia are tightly stitched into the U.S. system. Lord said allies are looking at a similar measures which she hopes to see coordinated with American efforts. "This is something we're talking with Canada about, with allies and partners, because a lot of us are doing the same thing," she said. The problems with existing systems — software already in the field — is being dealt with aggressively. Contractors who are responsible for maintaining complex systems on warships and aircraft are being told by the Pentagon to close their potential security gaps. "We are going to start shutting equipment down if they are not brought up to standard because every day we see [intelligence], we see how much has been compromised," Lord said. Troy Crosby, head of the Canadian Department of National Defence's materiel branch, said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has launched a "cyber secure program" and there's a hope that the two countries can find a way to align their efforts. Some analysts and critics in the U.S. have argued that contractors — even those that make cyber security a priority — will find the cost of meeting uniform standards prohibitive. Beyond that, many major contractors have complex supply chains with many smaller companies that also would be required to spend substantial sums of money to keep up with evolving threats. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pentagon-contractors-cyber-security-1.5487452

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  October 27, 2022 | Local, Naval

  Taxpayers face $300 billion price tag for new navy warships, warns Parliamentary Budget Officer

  Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux flagged a couple more torpedoes related to the Royal Canadian Navy’s project to buy new warships.

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  May 7, 2019 | Local, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Scheer government would seek to join U.S. missile defence program

  By Alex Boutilier Ottawa Bureau OTTAWA–Andrew Scheer will announce tomorrow that a Conservative government would start talks with the Trump administration to join the U.S. continental missile defence program, the Star has learned. While the U.S. has sought the Canadian government's co-operation on a missile defence program since the early 2000s, successive governments — both Liberal and Conservative — have refused. But two Conservative sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, confirmed Scheer will announce a future Conservative government would pursue joining the program, which seeks to detect and stop missile attacks on the U.S. and its allies. Scheer will also announce his party's desire to “modernize” NORAD, the joint Canada-U.S. aerospace defence system, one source who had seen the text of the speech said. The announcements will come as part of a speech Scheer is scheduled to deliver Tuesday in Montreal on the Conservatives' approach to foreign policy. The speech is the first of five policy speeches Scheer is slated to deliver over the next five weeks. Scheer has released little in terms of policy since winning the Conservative leadership in May 2017, leading to Liberal attacks that he doesn't have a plan, especially on the environment. The speeches could blunt that criticism, while giving voters a better sense of what the Conservatives expect to include in their election platform. In addition to foreign affairs, Scheer will deliver speeches on immigration, the economy, “confederation” and the environment. The issue of a ballistic missile defence treaty with the United States has been a contentious one for successive Canadian governments. In 2005, then-prime minister Paul Martin refused to sign a deal with the Bush administration. Stephen Harper rebuffed similar requests from president Barack Obama, and the current Liberal government was similarly cold to the idea in its recently released defence policy overhaul. “The threats facing North America have evolved significantly in the air and maritime environment ... and weapons technology, including ballistic and cruise missiles, has advanced tremendously,” the defence framework reads. “Canada's policy with respect to participation in ballistic missile defence has not changed. However, we intend to engage the United States to look broadly at emerging threats and perils to North America, across all domains, as part of NORAD modernization.” Canadian governments' reluctance to join the American missile defence shield has typically had more to do with domestic politics than national security or defence considerations, according to Eugene Lang, an adjunct professor at the Queen's University school of policy studies. “There's been a lot of political sensitivity around it for Canadian governments that were feeling it was going to be controversial for Canada to sign on to this thing,” said Lang, who served as chief of staff to two Liberal defence ministers. “That was certainly the case in the early 2000s with the Bush administration because the Bush administration's foreign and military policy was deeply unpopular in Canada. Now the Trump administration's military and security policy, I don't know if it's deeply unpopular (but) we know Trump is deeply unpopular.” Whoever wins the upcoming federal election will likely face increased pressure from the Trump administration to participate — and help pay for — a planned update of the U.S. ballistic missile defence system. In January, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will deploy a new space-based system for detecting and stopping ballistic missiles aimed at the U.S. and its allies. But Trump also said that the allies who benefit from that defence system will be expected to pay their share of the cost. With files from the Canadian Press https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/05/06/scheer-government-would-seek-to-join-us-missile-defence-program.html