August 10, 2022 | Local, Naval
Experts say it's part of the growing trade-offs Canada is having to make with its navy, which has a shrinking fleet of aging ships and a lack of trained sailors
July 22, 2024 | Local, Land, Security
In a mid-summer interview, Petitpas Taylor caught up with iPolitics to discuss the most pressing issues in the veterans affairs file, Gen. Jennie Carignan becoming the first woman to lead the Canadian Armed Forces, and what she’s hearing from veterans across the country.
October 20, 2017 | Local, Aerospace, C4ISR
October 20, 2017 – Ottawa The All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology program will support the development of options, over a period of five years, for enhanced domain awareness of air, maritime surface and sub-surface approaches to Canada, in particular those in the Arctic. Surveillance solutions explored and selected through the ADSA Science & Technology program will strengthen the Government of Canada's ability to exercise sovereignty in the North, and will provide a greater awareness of safety and security issues, as well as transportation and commercial activity in Canada's Arctic. Canada's contributions to regional Arctic security also form a core part of the Canada-United States defence relationship. Nowhere is this more apparent than in joint efforts to renew the North Warning System (NWS) and modernize elements of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). As the security dynamics in the Arctic evolve, Canada and the United States will continue to work side by side to secure our shared northern air and maritime approaches. The NWS is a chain of unmanned radar stations in Canada's Arctic that provides aerospace surveillance of Canadian and United States northern approaches. While the current NWS is approaching the end of its life expectancy from a technological and functional perspective, the range of potential threats to the continent, such as those posed by cruise missiles, has become more complex and increasingly difficult to detect. To this end, Canada and the United States have already launched bilateral collaboration to seek innovative technological solutions to continental defence challenges including early warning. Studies are ongoing to determine how best to replace this important capability as part of the overall modernization of NORAD. The ADSA Science & Technology program is part of this bilateral collaboration. The following are the successful proposals from the first Call for Proposals: Title: Acoustic Source for Ocean Propagation Experimentation Supplier: GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Domain: Sub-Surface Surveillance Project Type: Technology Demonstration Funding: $4,953,038 (until 31 March 2020) GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc has been awarded a contract to develop, design, build and test an acoustic source which will support scientific experiments in underwater sound propagation. Such a device may form part of future systems capable of providing long distance underwater communications to support, for example, an unmanned underwater vehicle engaged in open ocean or under ice survey work. Title: Acoustic Array for Persistent Under-Ice Vehicles Supplier: GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Domain: Sub-Surface Surveillance Project Type: Research and Development Funding: $1,944,175 (until 20 September 2019) The objective of this project is to design and build a sensor array suitable for towing from an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). The innovative design, employing a fishing line-like cable with acoustic sensors, may be suitable for year-round underwater and under-ice operations, in environmentally hostile Arctic waters. Title: Development of the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Models (CHAIM) Supplier: University of New Brunswick Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick Domain: Air Surveillance Project Type: Research and Development Funding: $1,165,143 (until 31 March 2020) Current ionospheric models, used for prediction of radio wave propagation for communications and other applications, have significant shortcomings in Arctic regions. This is due to inaccuracies and limited local ionospheric observations. This project aims to improve this by producing high latitude electron density models at altitudes between 100 and 3,000 kilometres. Title: Bistatic High Elevation Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Air System (UAS) Scenario Study Supplier: C-CORE Location: Ottawa, Ontario Domain: Surface Surveillance Project Type: Study Funding: $221,000 (until 31 July 2018) This project is for the study of the potential capabilities of using a high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned air system (UAS) as a receiver in a bistatic configuration with commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) missions, both current and future. The study will look at how various configurations of transmitters and HALE UAS-mounted receivers can augment current detection and discrimination capabilities, while providing a highly mobile, persistent, all weather surveillance asset that currently does not exist. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2017/10/government_of_canadaannouncessuccessfulproposalsforalldomainsitu.html
December 26, 2018 | Local, Land
AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): A consignment of armored vehicles has left Canada for Saudi Arabia despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's declaration that Ottawa was ready to halt a $13 billion arms deal with Riyadh. Military manufacturer General Dynamic Land Systems Canada has been contracted to deliver 742 armored vehicles to the kingdom whose war on Yemen has recently come under increased scrutiny. Canada has been exporting arms to Saudi Arabia based on the 2014 contract won by the Canadian unit of US weapons maker General Dynamics Corp. On Sunday, a cargo ship loaded with armored vehicles left the port of Saint John for Saudi Arabia, a day after protesters gathered in the rain and fog to condemn the shipment, Canada's leading daily the Globe and Mail reported. The protesters held signs and passed out pamphlets detailing concerns about the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the paper said. The cargo was apparently delayed for a day after longshoremen refused to cross the protest line, forfeiting their day's wages, it added. The longshoremen, the paper said, could face repercussions from their employer for their decision not to cross the protest, even though the combat vehicles were eventually transported. The shipment came even though Trudeau said in October that Canada was ready to halt the arms deal with Saudi Arabia if it concluded the weapons had been misused. "We strongly demand and expect that Canadian exports are used in a way that fully respects human rights," Trudeau said in the parliament. "We have frozen export permits before when we had concerns about their potential misuse and we will not hesitate to do so again," he added. His remarks, however, drew a warning from General Dynamics Corp which warned Canada against stopping the sales. "Were Canada to unilaterally terminate the contract, Canada would incur billions of dollars of liability to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada," it said. David Perry, defense analyst at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, called the warning “unusual” at the time. He said General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada would normally keep a very low profile. "I can't imagine they are anything other than extremely worried," he said. Trudeau, himself, had previously acknowledged that there would be “huge penalties” if Ottawa turned its back on the deal. The Canadian premier, known for trying to portray himself as a human rights advocate, has been under pressure to scrap the deal inked by the previous government. Besides killing tens of thousands of people, the Saudi war has brought the impoverished country close to the edge of a nationwide famine. http://en.abna24.com/news//saudi-arabia-gets-arms-despite-canadas-pledge-to-halt-deal_921936.html