Skies Magazine October/November 2018 Issue

On the same subject

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  January 8, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Vice Admiral McDonald to take over as defence chief on Jan. 14

  Vice Admiral Art McDonald will take over as the Chief of the Defence Staff next Thursday. He will be promoted to full admiral for his new position. McDonald replaces Gen. Jon Vance who has been CDS since July 2015. Vance announced last year that he was retiring. McDonald is currently the commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and has served in a variety of positions, both at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa and on board various frigates. As a Capt(N), he was the maritime component commander of Canadian Joint Task Force (Haiti), leading sea-based humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He then commanded a seven-ship combined, multi-national Task Group in the High Arctic later in 2010 during the annual Op Nanook. Later, as a rear admiral he also led the Canadian Forces' responses to fires and floods in British Columbia while commanding Joint Task Force Pacific from 2016-2018. McDonald will be replaced in his current position by Rear-Admiral Craig Baines. Baines will be promoted to vice-admiral. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/vice-admiral-mcdonald-to-take-over-as-defence-chief-on-jan-14

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  September 17, 2023 | Local, Security

  Canada to give C$33 million to help buy air defenses for Ukraine | Reuters

  Canada will contribute C$33 million ($24.5 million) to a British-led partnership that is buying air defense equipment for Ukraine to help it fend off Russian missile and drone attacks, Defence Minister Bill Blair said on Sunday.

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  December 14, 2018 | Local, Naval

  Trade tribunal puts frigate program back on track

  Murray Brewster · CBC News The federal government's plan to award to a group of companies led by Lockheed Martin Canada the contract to design and support the construction of the navy's new frigates has been — nominally — put back on track. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) has rescinded an order, issued late last month, that prevented the signing of the deal. The decision to reverse course was made Monday after Public Services and Procurement Canada "certified in writing that the ... procurement is urgent and that a delay in awarding the contract would be contrary to the public interest," according to a copy of the ruling. The decision opens the way for the government to finalize the contract, which is still under negotiation. The Lockheed Martin Canada-led team was selected in October as the preferred bidder after a nearly two-year-long competition to select an off-the-shelf design for the 15 new warships that eventually will replace the navy's frigates. One of the competitors, Alion, asked the CITT to investigate the procurement deal, saying the preferred warship design will need substantial changes and doesn't meet the navy's requirements as spelled out in the government tender. The company also has asked the Federal Court in a separate filing for a judicial review of the long-awaited decision. That case is still pending. The federal government hopes to be able to sign a contract this winter. The order to postpone implementing a deal could have had a devastating impact on the $60 billion program, which already has suffered a series of delays. One of the biggest concerns involved an anticipated production slowdown at the go-to shipyard for warship construction, Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax. The federal government is expecting gap of, possibly, 18 months between the completion of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships and the beginning of construction on the new frigates, known as Canadian Surface Combatants. The Liberal government has attempted to mitigate the slowdown by confirming the construction of six Arctic patrol ships. Further delays to the new frigates would have made that worse. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trade-tribunal-puts-frigate-program-back-on-track-1.4941507