News

The campus, to be called De Havilland Field, will feature an aircraft assembly facility, parts manufacturing and distribution centers, a maintenance repair and overhaul center, a runway, educational space to train a future workforce, and much more.

As Canadians play, work, and explore outdoors, search and rescue personnel stand ready to respond when someone goes missing or is in distress. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the search and rescue community by providing them with the tools and technology they need to best serve Canadians and ensure a seamless approach to operations across the country. Today, on behalf of the Honourable Bill Blair, President of the Queen's Privy Council and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Parliamentary Secretary Yasir Naqvi announced $1.4 million in funding for Counter Crisis Technology Inc. The funding, available through Public Safety Canada's Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund, will support the development and implementation of a shared incident command system software solution for ground search and rescue volunteers and employees, including police services across the country. The new system will improve ground search and rescue, building on existing technology to enhance coordination between search and rescue organizations, by supporting information, data and knowledge sharing between jurisdictions. It will deliver and support an integrated solution to police services across Canada, fostering mutual aid, cooperation, and improving disaster response capabilities and outcomes for Canadians. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2022/09/government-of-canada-invests-14-million-to-improve-search-and-rescue-in-canada.html

Defense execs call the computer chip shortage an "acute pain point" and "day-to-day" challenge.

Major-General Iain Huddleston, Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Operational Airworthiness Authority, has lifted the operational pause on the CT-114 Tutor fleet effective September 20. The operational pause was implemented following an accident involving a 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron (known as the Snowbirds) CT-114 Tutor aircraft on August 2, 2022 in Fort St. John, B.C. The Operational Airworthiness Authority implemented the operational pause on August 8 after consulting with the RCAF's Directorate of Flight Safety (DFS) investigators and with experts from the Technical Airworthiness Authority within the Department of National Defence's Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel). An operational pause means aircraft (either specific aircraft or a fleet) temporarily stop flying until an operational airworthiness risk assessment can be completed, and it is safe for flying operations to resume. In this case, the accident remains under investigation by DFS, but the investigation to date has yielded enough information for a thorough risk assessment to be conducted. The initial From the Investigator report from DFS has been released and confirmed that the engine failure was due to an improperly assembled oil filter. The investigation is now analyzing the human factors that may have contributed to this occurrence. The team will resume flying at their home base of 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Sask. this week. Next week, the Snowbirds' CT-114 aircraft currently in Penticton and Fort St John, B.C. will begin returning to 15 Wing. The type of precision flying in the Snowbirds' aerobatic performances requires a very high level of proficiency, which in turn necessitates a great amount of practice. Given that the team has not flown since the August 2 accident, there is not enough time left for them to conduct the number of practices necessary to return to form for their scheduled shows. Accordingly, the team's remaining scheduled performances for 2022 have been cancelled. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2022/09/operational-pause-of-ct-114-tutor-fleet-lifted.html

The Canadian Forces does not yet have an idea when it wants improvements to be put in place, defence officials say.

Today the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the launch of the CubeSats Initiative in Canada for STEM (CUBICS), a new opportunity for post-secondary professors and students to engage in a real space mission. CUBICS challenges teams to develop projects that help advance scientific knowledge in areas such as climate change. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) plans to award a total of $3.4M in grants to up to 12 teams to design, build and launch an end-to-end CubeSat or develop a standalone scientific instrument or experiment. Building upon lessons learned from the Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP), the CSA intends to launch a new CUBICS opportunity every three years to continue to stimulate student learning for years to come. CUBICS aims to be more reflective of the needs of new and experienced student teams led by a professor, allowing them to engage in a mission adapted to their level of comfort, expertise and readiness. CUBICS is one of the CSA's initiatives that aim to equip students with the experience, knowledge and skills to become sought-after candidates for positions in Canada's space sector workforce. CSA experts will guide the teams as they prepare their missions. https://www.canada.ca/en/space-agency/news/2022/09/new-opportunity-for-canadian-students-to-build-and-launch-their-own-satellites.html

Bombardier's Defense division, along with its U.S. subsidiary Learjet Inc., delivered a Global 6000 aircraft in special mission configuration to the U.S. Air Force Battlefield Airborne Communications Node program.

The U.S. wants to gather information on firms to determine which might be able to help build 12,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition a month.

Diamond Aircraft’s special mission flagship, the DA62 MPP, is proving that a light fixed-wing aircraft is ideal for surveillance missions, thanks to the aircraft’s cost-effectiveness and increased capability.