RCAF unveils CF-18 Demo Hornet paint scheme for 100th anniversary - Skies Mag

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  September 24, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  U.S. approves Canada's purchase of used Australia fighter jets - deal to be completed by end of year

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The sign-off from the Americans for the 25-jet purchase was needed because the aircraft were built in the U.S. with U.S. technology. The U.S. government has approved Canada's purchase of used F-18 fighter jets from Australia, paving the way for the deal to be completed by the end of the year. The sign-off from the Americans was needed because the aircraft were built in the U.S. with U.S. technology. Dan Le Bouthillier of the Department of National Defence said Friday negotiations with Australia over the sale of the 25 used fighter jets is on-going. “Should all negotiations and approvals move forward as planned, aircraft would start arriving in Canada in 2019, and the project remains on track to achieve this milestone,” he said. “The delivery plan, including mode of delivery, will be finalized once negotiations are complete and the aircraft being purchased are selected.” In June, Postmedia reported that Canada had boosted the number of used Australian fighter jets it is purchasing to 25 from 18 but that the deal still hinged on approval from the U.S. government. Although U.S.-Canada relations have hit a slump, with President Donald Trump vowing to punish Canadians because of ongoing trade disputes, DND officials hope the situation won't affect approvals for the fighter jet sale to proceed. The Liberal government originally announced it would buy 18 used Australian F-18 jets to augment the Royal Canadian Air Force's CF-18s until new aircraft can be purchased in the coming years. But it has added seven more used Australian F-18 aircraft to the deal. Those extra aircraft will be stripped down for parts or used for testing. The exact cost of purchasing the 25 aircraft, along with weapons and other equipment, is not yet known, Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough pointed out earlier this year. The Liberal government has set aside up to $500 million for the project. Earlier this year, Pat Finn, the Department of National Defence's assistant deputy minister of materiel, said the government has received what's called a letter of cost proposal on the impending sale. “The Australians have now gone to the U.S. State Department for the transfer under ITAR,” Finn explained to MPs on the Commons defence committee at the time. Finn indicated the DND wants to have the deal in place by the end of this year. “The idea of firming this up in the fall of 2018 was for the start of delivery of the two first aircraft to be next summer, and then quickly beyond it,” he added. The federal government has confirmed the Australian aircraft will be operating alongside the RCAF's other CF-18s at Bagotville, Que., and Cold Lake, Alta. “The aircraft will be employed at 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake,” a government official noted. “DND is currently reviewing infrastructure requirements to accommodate the additional aircraft. Any modifications are expected to be minimal as the supplemental jets are of similar age and design to the CF-18.” The Liberal government had planned to buy 18 new Super Hornet fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing. But last year Boeing complained to the U.S. Commerce Department that Canadian subsidies for Quebec-based Bombardier allowed it to sell its C-series civilian passenger aircraft in the U.S. at cut-rate prices. As a result, the Trump administration brought in a tariff of almost 300 per cent against the Bombardier aircraft sold in the U.S. In retaliation, Canada cancelled the deal to buy the Super Hornets. That project would have cost more than US$5 billion. https://theprovince.com/news/politics/u-s-approves-canadas-purchase-of-used-australia-fighter-jets-deal-to-be-completed-by-end-of-year/wcm/f39380f7-98e9-45a2-8a7b-525c3eda6901

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  September 24, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Canada's special forces seek outside intelligence advice

  Murray Brewster Intelligence expert says Canadian Forces may be preparing for more missions without American help Canada's elite special forces are looking for some outside intelligence advice — a move that one expert said is likely meant to make the highly-trained special forces section less dependent on allies, notably the Americans. A request for proposals was posted late last week to the federal government's tendering website asking private contractors to submit bids to become a "senior intelligence" adviser to the special forces, which undertake some of the military's most secret and dangerous missions. The individual will be expected to "aid and support in the implementation of current intelligence projects, and the design and implementation of future capabilities." Specifically, the new adviser will be responsible for helping to guide "the establishment of specific [Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance] capabilities," which will include aircraft. The special forces recently bought three new surveillance aircraft from the U.S. The planes, which are expected to arrive in 2022, will be equipped with sensors and tracking gear to intercept cell telephone and other electronic transmissions. The request for proposals also says the new adviser will be expected to have a deep background in working with other allied intelligence services. In its defence policy, released three years ago, the Liberal government committed to bolstering the military's intelligence-gathering capability. The special forces section itself emphasized intelligence-gathering in its recently released strategy, called Beyond the Horizon. Within the defence community, the strategy is seen as an important effort to refocus the special forces after nearly two decades of concentrating on counter-insurgency warfare. A spokesperson for the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), Maj. Amber Bineau, had little to say about the rationale for hiring a contract adviser beyond what was included in the request for proposals. The branch "periodically hires contractors, on a case-by-case basis" and the adviser will be working with "oversight from senior leadership within CANSOFCOM," she said in an email. The University of Ottawa's Wesley Wark, one of the country's leading experts in intelligence, said the decision to bring in outside expertise and establish surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for the special forces is a significant move — especially coming at a moment when the United States is seen as pulling back from engagement with its allies, or focusing on different priorities. Wark said Canada traditionally has relied on the Americans for a variety of intelligence-gathering capabilities, including military intelligence. The request for proposals, he said, amounts to a recognition by the Department of National Defence that some future special forces missions may not involve partnerships with U.S. special forces — and that Canada needs its own independent capabilities. "If you're going to work with some different kinds of partners, the expectation grows that you're going to have to have your own sources and you can't just be relying on the United States," he told CBC News. Wark said he could foresee, for example, Canadian special forces being called upon by the United Nations for specific intelligence help during peace support missions — a task that, in the current political climate, Washington would avoid. Just as important, Wark said, is the fact that the request for proposals asked for someone with expertise in social media intelligence, "which is interesting and indicative of the kind of complex operations" the force will be facing in the future. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/special-forces-intelligence-1.5726861

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  April 26, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  RCAF hints at capabilities that may guide future fighter acquisition

  Chris Thatcher The Canadian government is still a year away from issuing a request for proposals for its next fighter jet, but the general leading the future fighter capability project has indicated what capabilities may drive the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF's) eventual statement of requirements. In a presentation to the Aerospace Innovation Forum in Montreal last week, MGen Alain Pelletier, chief of the Fighter Capability Program, emphasized the importance of a platform with the flexibility to adapt to changing threats over a period of at least 30 years. Setting the future fleet of 88 jets in the context of NATO and NORAD missions, he emphasized the challenge of anticipating, adapting and acting in a threat environment where potential adversaries are investing heavily in longer-range “anti-access/area denial” capabilities, surface-to-air missile systems, exploitation of the electro-magnetic spectrum, and cyber weapons. Pelletier, a CF-188 Hornet pilot with two tours in the Balkans, noted the “operational disadvantage” Canadian pilots currently face from anti-aircraft and surface-to-air threats. In recent NATO air policing missions over Romania and Lithuania, “we fly to a potential threat area knowing that our location and number is known by the adversaries while the intent and willingness...to employ their weapon systems remains unknown,” he said. This was especially true during the CF-188 deployment on Operation Impact over Iraq and Syria. Though the theatre was considered a semi-permissive environment, “had the Syrian government intent changed regarding the use of their airspace, only effective self-protection systems and exploitation of the electro-magnetic spectrums could have protected our fighters against a 20 second engagement by a surface-to-air missile,” he observed. The current NATO environment features a range of advanced surface-to-air systems that “are mobile, digitized, passive, and carry missiles with a cruise speed capability and a classified range in excess of 300 kilometres,” he said. A sortie might begin in a permissive environment but end in a contested one, so the “capabilities of the aircraft at the beginning of the mission [will] define if the future fighter will have an operational advantage.” The NORAD picture is equally challenging. Russian activity in the North has increased in the past several years, Pelletier noted, “with Russian bombers potentially armed with low observable cruise missiles being escorted by fighters...like the advanced [Sukhoi] Su-35 and eventually the Su-57 [first seen] in the Syrian theatre of operations.” “Exploitation of the electro-magnetic spectrum allows Russian platforms to know where Canadian NORAD fighters are,” limiting Canadian options to respond, he added. “The bottom line remains that the defence of Canada and North America requires a future fighter that can adapt and act decisively.” Consequently, a critical requirement of the next fighter jet will be interoperability with NORAD and NATO partners. In particular, Pelletier underscored the importance of being able to share intelligence among 2 Eyes and 5 Eyes partners collected by their respective national assets. The 2 Eyes partnership of Canada and the United States, and the 5 Eyes group of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., has been essential to understanding and operating in conflict zones. He also emphasized that operations are heavily dependent on the systematic collection, coordination, fusion, production and dissemination of defence intelligence. “In a fighter aircraft, all systems employ or exploit this information for the use of mission data files, threat libraries, all of which allow the pilots to effectively conduct their mission. Commonality and a growth path are required to ensure the seamless fusion of all systems through the life of the fleet to 2060 and beyond.” NATO and NORAD systems and intelligence interoperability requirements are not new, but the RCAF's demand for 2 Eyes/5 Eyes compatibility could present a barrier for countries and manufacturers that are not part of those closed groups. Several times during his presentation, Pelletier also repeated the need for an aircraft and mission and weapons systems that could be “continuously” upgraded well into the 2060s. Given the innovation forum's focus on disruptive technologies, Pelletier noted the opportunities and threats posed by autonomous systems operating in an integrated and networked fashion, swarming unmanned systems, advanced exploitation of the electro-magnetic spectrum, hypersonic speed, directed energy, quantum technology, and artificial intelligence. All may eventually be part of the next fighter, but he cautioned industry that any advantage would only happen if the technology could be rapidly implemented and integrated and supported by government policy and rules of engagement. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/rcaf-hints-capabilities-may-guide-future-fighter-acquisition/