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December 16, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

Trudeau directs ministers to cement fighter deal

by Ken Pole

The long-overdue replacement of the Royal Canadian Air Force's fleet of Boeing CF-188 Hornets was highlighted Dec. 13 in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate letters to his new cabinet.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, who had the fighter program in his sights throughout his first four years in the portfolio, and Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand, a newcomer to Parliament, have been directed to co-operate on finally getting a contract.

There are three remaining contenders: Lockheed Martin's F-35A Lightning II, Boeing's F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, and the Saab Gripen E/F.

Trudeau's letter to Sajjan makes it clear that new fighters would be part of a renewed commitment not only to national defence, but also to the continental umbrella afforded by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as well as meeting international commitments through the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

While cabinet veteran Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science & Industry, is not mentioned in Sajjan's letter, he is referred to in Anand's letter, mainly due to his ministry's oversight of industrial spinoffs from the fighter contract.

https://www.skiesmag.com/news/trudeau-directs-ministers-to-cement-fighter-deal

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    December 26, 2019 | Local, Naval

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The German Navy NH90 Sea Lion training solution will be based near German Naval Airbase Nordholz, which is the home of the German Naval Air Command. “CAE has a long history supporting German naval aviation training at Nordholz on platforms such as the Sea King and Lynx helicopters as well as P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft,” said Niels Kröning, General Manager, CAE Elektronik GmbH. “We are honoured to be selected to continue this longstanding cooperation with the development of a world-class training solution for the NH90 Sea Lion helicopter.” Under terms of the contract, CAE will design and manufacture a suite of NH90 Sea Lion training devices for the German Navy, including: NH90 full-mission simulator capable of compliance to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Level D qualification, the highest for flight simulators; NH90 cockpit procedures trainer; NH90 operational tactics trainer for training rear-crew tactical coordinators (TACCO) and sensor operators, and capable of networking with the full-mission simulator to provide full-crew mission training; NH90 winch and hoist operator trainer, which will also be capable of networking to other NH90 training devices for full-crew training. 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These technologies include: six degree-of-freedom (DOF) electric motion system; high-performance vibration platform to replicate vibration cues critical to helicopter pilots; and a high-fidelity CAE Medallion-6000 image generator. The NH90 training devices will also feature the Open Geospatial Consortium Common Database (OGC CDB) architecture, an international standard for the creation of synthetic environment databases that has been adopted on a range of German Armed Forces training systems. About NSPA The NATO Support and Procurement Agency brings together in a single organization NATO's logistics and procurement support activities, providing integrated multinational solutions for its customers. NSPA acts as NATO's premier life cycle management (including acquisition) and services provider, effectively and efficiently delivering a broad spectrum of integrated capabilities for NATO, its nations and partners, including support to operations. About CAE CAE's Defence & Security business unit focuses on helping prepare our customers to develop and maintain the highest levels of mission readiness. We are a world-class training systems integrator offering a comprehensive portfolio of training centres, training services and simulation products across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments. We serve our global defence and security customers through regional operations in Canada; the United States/Latin America; Europe/Africa; and Asia-Pacific/Middle East, all of which leverage the full breadth of CAE's capabilities, technologies and solutions. CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a record of more than 70 years of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defence force readiness and enhance patient safety. We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with over 10,000 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 220,000 civil and defence crewmembers, including more than 135,000 pilots, and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. www.cae.com Follow us on Twitter @CAE_Inc and @CAE_Defence View source version on CAE: https://www.cae.com/news-events/press-releases/cae-wins-contract-to-provide-german-navy-with-comprehensive-nh90-sea-lion-training-solution

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