The State Department approved a potential $1.7 billion Foreign Military Sale of the Aegis Combat System to Canada for use in its new CSC ships.
https://www.defensedaily.com/state-department-approves-1-7-billion-aegis-sale-to-canada/navy-usmc/
December 28, 2022 | Local, Land
Lt.-Gen. Joe Paul says the Army shrunk by 1,200 soldiers last year as departures outpaced recruiting — and that it could lose hundreds more unless the situation changes.
June 25, 2019 | Local, Naval
By Christian Paas-Lang Canada's 15 new warships will cost almost $70 billion over the next quarter-century, according to Parliament's budget watchdog, and the cost could change further depending on the final design of the ships and when they actually get built. The estimate, released in a report by the parliamentary budget office Friday, is up substantially from a Canadian government estimate in 2017 that pegged the price of the project at between $56 billion and $60 billion. The 2017 estimate was itself a revision of the project's original $26-billion price tag. Also in 2017, the PBO estimated the total cost of the ships to be $61.8 billion, but its report released Friday updates that to reflect the design of the ships — frigates known as “Type 26” — which wasn't known at the time. It also accounts for delays in the project. The Canadian government will now pay out $69.8 billion over 26 years, the PBO estimates. In a statement released shortly after the PBO report, the Department of National Defence said it remained “confident” in its 2017 estimate, and that the “vast majority” of the difference between the estimates came from the PBO's choice to include taxes in its projections. Taking away taxes brings the two estimates to within 10 per cent of each other, the DND said. But the department conceded that any small difference means hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for taxpayers. The PBO report says the difference in the estimates is due to a later start date for construction and a heavier ship design. The report assumes ships will start being built by the 2023-2024 fiscal year, three years later than its 2017 projection. As the timeline extends into the future, costs increase due to inflation. The PBO originally projected a displacement, or weight, of 5,400 tonnes for each ship but the Type 26 design is a heftier 6,790 tonnes per ship, an increase of more than 25 per cent. The report also includes an analysis of what effect further significant delays would have on the project. For a one-year delay, the PBO estimates, an extra $2.2 billion will be added to the project cost, and a two-year delay would cost the government $4.5 billion. In an interview Friday, the top bureaucrat in charge of procurement at the DND expressed skepticism that the heavier ships will result in as much increased cost as the PBO suggests, but he did say the potential for delays was something he is “watching more carefully.” “The labour piece is always where uncertainty can remain,” said Pat Finn, the department's associate deputy minister for material, noting labour can make up around 40 per cent of the cost of a ship. Finn said the DND is in the “same place” as the PBO on the cost of “slippage” — delays in the project — but that he is confident the structure of the National Shipbuilding Strategy will mean the project could benefit from a skilled workforce and ongoing expertise. The purchase of additional Arctic patrol ships, announced last month, means there will not be a lapse in efficiency at Irving's Halifax shipyard, which is building the warships, Finn said. He set a goal for start of construction earlier than the PBO assumes in its report. “We would say between mid-2022 and mid-2023, we're in-contract and cutting steel,” Finn said. Potential delays would certainly increase costs, and it would be “absolutely no shock if there was additional delays,” said Dave Perry, a procurement expert with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “To this point in time, the government has not been able to meet any of the timelines that have been put forward publicly,” he added. Still, the closer you get to construction, Perry said, the less uncertainty there should be about costs and the potential for further delay. The last thing that might change the final cost of the ships is the specifics of what components are chosen to fill out the design — which radar equipment, for example, Perry said. The DND is deciding on those components as it reconciles the requirements of the ships with costs. “You could potentially get a few-percentage-point swing” in price in either direction based on those choices, said Perry. “But if you're talking about several tens of billions of dollars, a few-percentage-points swing is real money.” https://globalnews.ca/news/5418997/canada-warships-cost/
June 25, 2020 | Local, Aerospace
The two leading candidates to provide the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with a new remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) are offering American and Israeli aircraft, but the federal government will be leveraging the project to grow Canadian capabilities and capacity in the unmanned aerial system (UAS) sector. “The scope and scale of this procurement gives us a unique opportunity to strategically position Canada's UAS sector for future success,” John MacInnis, director of the project at Innovation, Science and Economic Development, told a webinar hosted by Unmanned Systems Canada on June 22. Canada's modest UAS sector amounts to about five to eight per cent of the global market, generating between $400 million and $700 million in revenue in 2018, he noted. But it is projected to grow substantially as opportunities open up in adjacent sectors, including law enforcement and public safety. At present there are over 100 companies employing between 2,000 and 2,500 people in skilled jobs, but 90 per cent are small firms of under 250 employees. “We see this procurement as an opportunity to build upon and develop new and lasting local supply chain relationships in the sector,” said MacInnis. Previously known as the Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) project, RPAS has been a work in progress since 2005. That's when the RCAF formally stood up a project office in the Directorate of Air Requirements and assigned the task of assessing unmanned capability to a lieutenant-colonel and CC-130 Hercules pilot, who mused that he was probably being a heretic for developing the requirements for an aircraft without a pilot in the cockpit. Over the ensuing years, the Air Force has gathered the lessons of allies and acquired some of its own – from 2008 to 2011, the RCAF leased an Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron, the CU-170, to support operations in Afghanistan, flying around 550 hours every month – to craft a statement of requirements. Given the range of missions the government wants answered by a single aircraft, and the complexity of operating in the Arctic, the slow pace of the procurement might have spared the Air Force a poor investment. Successive RCAF commanders have noted that any platform acquired in the years after the project office was initially established would now be obsolete due to the rapid pace of UAS technology changes. As a former project director observed in 2013: “Canada is trying to do a lot of things with this UAV ... Where the United States would have a couple of different families of UAVs, we're probably going to have one or two. So, we're looking for a general-purpose system that can accomplish everything in one project.” The RPAS project will acquire a medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision strike system with ground control stations, munitions, long-term sustainment and infrastructure to deliver up to three concurrent lines of operation at home or abroad, explained Mike Barret, project manager for the Department of National Defence. The high-level mandatory requirements so far include the ability to operate in all weather, day or night; identify, track and prosecute targets over land or sea; reach the edge of Canada's domestic area of operations from a main base or established forward operating locations; and have the endurance to monitor or prosecute targets of interest such as a ship at that extreme edge for a minimum of six hours before handing off to a manned or unmanned aircraft. The platform, which is expected to serve for 25 years, must also have the ability to operate in low to medium threat environments and in appropriate class civil airspace under adverse weather conditions; integrate new payloads as technology evolves; accept and share data with and from Canadian platforms such as the CP-140 Aurora, CF-188 Hornet or Halifax-class frigate and its CH-148 Cyclone helicopter and with allies; and conduct air strikes with precision-guided munitions. Since 2012, the government has conducted multiple information gathering exercises with industry and in May 2019 issued a formal invitation to qualify as a supplier. That process confirmed two teams able to offer a NATO Class III RPAS capable of beyond-line-of-sight flight above 18,000 feet, at least 28 hours endurance in zero wind conditions, and able to employ a minimum of two precision-guided munitions. Team Artemis is led by Quebec's L3 Harris MAS while Team SkyGuardian is led by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, supported by the U.S. government. The procurement process is now in a “review and refinement phase” as the government obtains feedback from suppliers on the preliminary requirements, explained Sandra Labbe, senior director for the RPAS project at Public Services and Procurement Canada. The department expects to issue a draft request for proposals (RFP) in October 2020, followed by the formal RFP in March 2021. The project, which has an estimated cost of between $1 billion and $5 billion, would include the aircraft and associated equipment, munitions, training, materials support and a period of in-service support. Infrastructure such as hangars at a main operating base or forward locations would be acquired under a separate process. As with all procurements valued at over $100 million, RPAS will be subject to the government's Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policy. Both bid teams will have to submit a value proposition demonstrating their economic investment in Canadian industry, which will be weighted and rated along with cost and technical merit. MacInnis said one of the aims of the project will be to strengthen and expand the global profile of the Canadian sector “beyond the completion of the program.” He highlighted core areas where companies could contribute, such as payloads, data management and onboard processing, command, control and communications, and sustainment services, and encouraged collaborative R&D between the prime and suppliers to spur innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), cyber resilience and systems integration. Value proposition commitments should also help build advanced skills and capacity in the sector through training programs, scholarships, technology transfer and other initiatives, and increase the “participation of women and other underrepresented groups in the Canadian workforce,” he said. Team SkyGuardian, which includes CAE, MDA, and L3Harris, is proposing the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, a variant of the MQ-9 Reaper, a fleet that has accumulated over three million flight hours with U.S. and allied partners. Significantly for future suppliers, it is a fleet with global growth, both for military operations and for border security, humanitarian operations, disaster assistance and others, said Benjamin Brookshire of General Atomics. He welcomed the application of the ITB policy and said previous experience with national offsets policies has taught the company that a strong local supply base can be crucial to meeting unique customer needs. “We have our own vested interest in making sure that Canadian industry is involved in this program,” he said. Areas of opportunity for Canadian companies are sensor technology, integrated training, communications, avionics, composite manufacturing, AI and propulsion systems. Recalling General Atomics' start as a small company of seven guys in a garage, he encouraged proposals from companies of all sizes if they can fit the business case. “If you are like General Atomics and you've got a hairbrained idea like flying an airplane with nobody in it, we're definitely excited to hear about it.” For Team Artemis, L3 MAS has partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries to offer the IAI Heron TP, a mature platform “with tens of thousands of flight hours” over the past decade, noted Neil Tabbenor, director of business development for special missions and ISR. IAI will supply green, certified aircraft and ground control stations while L3 MAS will provide the systems integration and fleet management expertise. The Heron already has some confirmed Canadian content – the engine will be a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop – but he opened the door to “any R&D effort” and “any capability” that will fit the program, though composites, tooling, wire harnesses and other manufacturing components were at the top of his list. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/rpas-pursuing-unmanned-success/