Registration is Now Open | 8th Annual Defense R&D Summit

On the same subject

• 

  August 10, 2018 | Local, Naval

  Canadian government to lease two emergency towing vessels

  DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Atlantic Towing Limited of Saint John, New Brunswick, has been awarded a three-year contract worth $67 million for the lease of two emergency offshore towing vessels that will operate in the waters off the coast of British Columbia. The vessels are capable of towing large commercial ships in distress, such as tankers and container ships, before they get too close to shore, according to the federal government. As part of the contract, Atlantic Towing Limited will also provide training in offshore emergency towing to Canadian Coast Guard personnel and partners, including Indigenous communities, involved in marine safety. The contract fulfills an immediate operational need to have vessels available as soon as possible, while the federal government works on developing a long-term strategy for emergency towing, the government noted in a news release. Full article: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-government-to-lease-two-emergency-towing-vessels

• 

  October 29, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Le Ministère de la Défense Nationale et les Forces armées canadiennes -- Conférence de Kingston sur la sécurité internationale / The Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces update -- Kingston Conference on International Security

  Chers collègues et partenaires du milieu de la défense, En tant que gestionnaire par intérim du BEPS, je tenais communiquer avec vous pour partager le texte du discours d'ouverture prononcé par le chef d'état-major par intérim, le général Wayne Eyre à la Conférence de Kingston sur la sécurité internationale. Je suis conscient que certains ont probablement assisté à la conférence, mais je crois qu'une version écrite peut être une référence utile. La conférence, EN CAS D'URGENCE : Le rôle des militaires dans la pandémie et les crises futures a eu lieu cette semaine. Conférence de Kingston sur la sécurité internationale Comme toujours, nous vous remercions de votre collaboration. (Veuillez noter que le discours est bilingue et n'a pas été entièrement traduit dans l'une ou l'autre des langues officielles.) Cordialement, ***** Dear colleagues and partners in defence, As the acting manager for the Strategic Engagement Office, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the opening address given by the Acting Chief of Staff, General Wayne Eyre at the Kingston Conference on International Security. I'm conscious of the fact that many of you probably attended but a written version of the address may be interesting as a reference. The conference, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: The Military's Role in the Pandemic & Future Crises, was held this week. Kingston Conference on International Security As always, we thank you for your collaboration.

• 

  November 15, 2018 | Local, Land

  Saudi Arabia and the Canadian Arms Lobby

  by Yves Engler Will they cancel the contract or won't they? In order to understand Ottawa's decision making process regarding General Dynamics' massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia one must look closely at industry lobbyists. While the Trudeau government is under substantial public pressure to rescind the $15 billion Light Armored Vehicle sale, to do so would challenge the company and the broader corporate lobby. Last week a senior analyst with the GD-financed Canadian Global Affairs Institute boldly defended the LAV sale. "There has been no behavior by the Saudis to warrant canceling this contract", said David Perry to the London Free Press. Perry must have missed the Kingdom's violence in Yemen, repression in eastern Saudi Arabia and consulate murder in Istanbul. Two weeks ago Perry told another interviewer that any move to reverse the LAV sale would have dire consequences. "There would be geopolitical implications. There would be a huge number of economic implications, both immediately and in the wider economy... canceling this, I think, would be a big step because as far as I understand the way that we look at arms exports, it would effectively mean that we've changed the rules of the game." Amidst an earlier wave of criticism towards GD's LAV sale, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute published a paper titled "Canada and Saudi Arabia: A Deeply Flawed but Necessary Partnership" that defended the $15-billion deal. At the time of its 2016 publication at least four of the institute's "fellows" wrote columns justifying the sale, including an opinion piece by Perry published in the Globe and Mail Report on Business that was headlined "Without foreign sales, Canada's defense industry would not survive." Probably Canada's most prominent foreign policy think tank, Canadian Global Affairs Institute is a recipient of GD's "generous" donations. Both GD Land Systems and GD Mission Systems are listed among its "supporters" in recent annual reports, but the exact sum they've given the institute isn't public. The Conference of Defence Associations Institute also openly supports GD's LAV sale. Representatives of the Ottawa-based lobby/think tank have writtencommentaries justifying the LAV sale and a 2016 analysis concluded that "our own Canadian national interests, economic and strategic, dictate that maintaining profitable political and trade relations with ‘friendly' countries like Saudi Arabia, including arms sales, is the most rational option in a world of unpleasant choices." Of course, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute also received GD money and its advisory board includes GD Canada's senior director of strategy and government relations Kelly Williams. Full article: https://original.antiwar.com/yves_engler/2018/11/13/saudi-arabia-and-the-canadian-arms-lobby/