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The first meeting of the EU-Canada joint ministerial committee took place in Brussels on 4 December 2017. The committee adopted a joint statement: Joint statement: 'EU and Canada: A progressive and dynamic strategic partnership' "We are completely likeminded partners and since the signing of recent agreements our relations moved to an even deeper and stronger partnership. We are both committed and we are both supporting first of all multilateralism and rules-based international order. The importance of this could not be underestimated in these days. So our partnership is strong and beneficial not only for our citizens but also for serving a certain idea of multilateralism and of the world." Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy "From Canada's perspective, we value very much our partnership with the European Union and today more than ever we value what the European Union stands for in the world. It stands for democracy, it stands for a strong voice in support of human rights, the European Union is a strong voice in favour of the international rules-based order. We appreciate that, we support you and we are very grateful. We look forward to working as allies in all of these issues in the days and months to come." Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada EU-Canada bilateral relationship The committee agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the EU and Canada. The cooperation has entered a new era with the provisional application of the strategic partnership agreement (SPA) since 1 April 2017 and of the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) since 21 September 2017. The committee discussed in particular how to step up security and defence cooperation in areas such as crisis management and security, cyber security and responding to hybrid threats. The EU and Canada also committed to working together on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The Committee agreed that the EU and Canada will co-chair a Women Foreign Ministers meeting in 2018. The committee also reviewed how to strengthen EU-Canada cooperation in third countries in regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Foreign policy coordination A number of key issues on the international agenda were also discussed, including the situation in eastern Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Myanmar/Burma. Global issues The EU and Canada discussed global issues, including climate change, human rights and democracy, as well as migration and counter-terrorism. Signing ceremony In the margins of the meeting, the EU and Canada signed an agreement allowing for the exchange of classified information between them. This agreement enables greater cooperation, including in the framework of common security and defence policy (CSDP) missions and operations. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-ministerial-meetings/2017/12/04/

Orlando, USA – November 27, 2017 – Presagis is introducing three new products to the training and simulation market at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) taking place November 27 to December 1 in Orlando, Florida. A leader in modeling and simulation software, Presagis is bolstering its line of sensor simulators with the introduction of ONDULUS NVG, Panorama -- an image generation platform, and VELOCITY, a next-generation solution for the production of large synthetic training environments. “By supplying simulation software to most of the top 100 defense and aerospace companies in the world, Presagis is extremely well positioned to capture the needs of our customers by innovating and developing solutions that respond directly to their needs,” explains Jean-Michel Brière, Presagis' President. “These three products – Ondulus NVG, Panorama, and VELOCITY -- not only provide our customers with more accuracy, realism, and cost-savings, but mark significant technological achievements in the evolution of our company.” Panorama is a competitively-priced image generation system that gives organizations the ability to add high-fidelity, scalable imaging to their simulation solutions. Leveraging Vega Prime, Ondulus and other Presagis software solutions, Panorama is capable of providing Out-of-the-Window (OTW), Electro-Optical (EO), night-vision goggles (NVG) and infrared (IR) views for ground, air, and marine domains. VELOCITY is a new, revolutionary way of building synthetic environments that will permit agencies and organizations to analyze and use the unmanageable amounts of data they have to automate the creation of rich, immersive 3D virtual environments. Building on the success of the Ondulus family of sensor products, Ondulus NVG gives users the ability to add realistic physics-based night-vision sensor simulation to their research, training or mission planning environments. Ondulus NVG supports both passive and active illumination. In addition to these new products, Presagis is also launching the newest version of its M&S Suite – version 17. Comprising industry-standard software such as STAGE, Creator, Terra Vista, and Vega Prime, M&S Suite 17 is set to release in early 2018 with an arsenal of new features. “The M&S Suite is a pillar in the Presagis portfolio. We continue to respond to our customers' needs by providing new features and tools for content creators, as well as wider access and more scripting functionality for developers. Every product in the suite has been improved – from Creator and Terra Vista, to the simulators and Vega Prime. The Ondulus family in particular received many improvements in the form of new detectors for Ondulus IR, and several new radar modes for Ondulus Radar,” said Stéphane Blondin, Presagis' Vice President of Product Management and Marketing. Presagis will also be showcasing its series of customizable simulators, HELI CRAFT and UAV CRAFT. In response to the increasing demand for open architecture simulators and training devices, Presagis offers virtual unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) station and a helicopter simulator. These reference platforms integrate nearly all Presagis commercial off-the-shelf simulation products and technology, and can be used as advanced start points for customers interested in building their own simulators. Presagis will be demonstrating its full range of simulation software and solutions at the upcoming Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) from November 27 to December 1 in Orlando, FL. (Presagis booth: #1762). About Presagis Presagis is a global leader providing commercial modeling, simulation and embedded software solutions to the aerospace, defense and security, and critical infrastructure markets. Presagis combines an open simulation development framework with expert professional services to help customers streamline development workflows, reduce project risks, and deliver game-quality immersive simulations. Presagis is also at the forefront of avionics software design for certifiable cockpit displays. The company serves hundreds of customers worldwide, including many of the world's most respected organizations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, BAE Systems, and CAE. For more information, visit www.presagis.com. For further information: Stéphane Blondin, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing, Tel: +1 514 341.3874, E-Mail: Stephane.Blondin@presagis.com https://www.presagis.com/en/press-center/detail/presagis-unveils-three-new-products-at-i-itsec/

Posted on November 23, 2017 by Chris Thatcher When the federal government delivered its 2017 budget last spring, innovation was mentioned 262 times and served as the focal point for numerous new initiatives. The centrepiece was the Innovation and Skills Plan, a series of proposals that included additional venture capital funding, new support for innovation in key growth areas and superclusters, and Innovation Canada, an initiative to bring siloed projects and funding programs for innovators under one roof. More recently, the government in its 2017 defence policy introduced IDEaS (Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security), a program currently seeking Treasury Board approval that will invest $1.6 billion over the next 20 years to generate solutions to complex challenges across the Canadian Armed Forces. It will also speed up the development of new technologies through contests, sandbox trials, research networks and other programs. The devil is always in the details of such initiatives, and all are in the early stages. Still, they have been widely welcomed by the aerospace sector. However, innovation is not for the inexperienced, four seasoned small business executives cautioned during the annual Canadian Aerospace Summit on Nov. 7. While government programs often appear to be tailored to recent graduates with youthful enthusiasm, true innovation doesn't succeed without business acumen. “It takes experience; it takes patience,” said Gabe Batstone, a self-described serial entrepreneur with over two decades in the tech sector, who recently launched Ottawa-based Contextere, an artificial intelligence firm focused on applications for blue collar workers that has secured funding from BMW, Lockheed Martin and Samsung. Aerospace and defence programs can take years to mature and regulations invariably play a big part in the introduction of any new technology, he said. “To bring emergent technology into complex organizations, it's about procurement [expertise], about sales, about relationships, about [understanding] regulations. The technology is the least difficult part.” In fact, tried and true business practices focused on customer relations are essential to entrepreneurial success. “I was never worried about the technology,” said John Mannarino, president of Montreal-based Mannarino Systems and Software, a company that has grown from a one-man consultancy to over 60 employees specializing in engineering services and airborne software. Rather, innovation has come from listening to customers and suppliers, and that takes time. “I had to learn.” In an address to the Summit, hosted by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, Michael Anderson, president of Saab North America, observed that innovation does not happen without an element of risk. “The organization that has the best ability to effectively mitigate risk while providing an environment that promotes risk-taking will eventually be a successful innovator and, of course, a successful business.” But there is a point at which small companies cannot take on more risk, said Dave Muir, president and CEO of Ottawa-based Gastops, a health monitoring firm that has developed sensor and analysis tools for complex aircraft and engines. “The larger companies are pushing risk way more down into the supply chain than they were. As a small fish there is only so far out from the shore you can swim before bad things happen.” The pace of change is also creating challenges for small business, and it's not limited to technology. Development cycles, production schedules, and time to market have all been compressed in recent years. For Patrick Thera, president of SED, a division of Calian that has been developing commercial satellite and ground systems solutions for over 50 years, that means being shrewd about where and with whom to invest. “Key collaborations are very important,” he said, noting that “coopetition” has sometimes made for unexpected partners. “One day you're competing against a fellow company and the next you're partnering with that company.” Gastops, too, has invested far more than previously in establishing collaborative networks to further its innovation. “I strongly believe, especially for a small company, that you cannot do innovation in the aerospace industry by yourself alone in the back room,” said Muir. Adapting to the pace of change can be especially difficult if you don't have the necessary specialized skills in your company. All four executives acknowledged the challenge of finding top software and engineering talent when much larger companies in every sector are pursuing the same people. But they also argued that as products become more sophisticated, expertise in procurement, project management, intellectual property and marketing is critical to innovation and a company's growth. When you are competing against cool start-ups with world-changing visions, “you have to go a long way to show people that you do offer a lot of things that they can take pride in, that you save lives every day with the technologies you create,” said Thera. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/innovation-requires-experience-aiac-panel

Gen. Jonathan Vance said that despite speculation, there was never a plan in the works to deploy troops on a single UN operation. OTTAWA—Training foreign troops will be the “flagship” of Canada's newly announced peace operations strategy, says the country's top soldier, who concedes that elements of the plan still require months more work. Prime Minster Justin Trudeau on Wednesday took the wraps off his government's long-awaited effort to reengage with United Nations peace missions. Elements of the strategy include $15 million in funding to boost participation by women soldiers in UN operations; an initiative to end the recruitment of child soldiers; and the promise of Canadian personnel to assist with training. It also pledges up to six helicopters, two transport aircraft and a quick reaction force of up to 200 personnel to support UN missions. But apart from Trudeau's promise of a single transport aircraft for UN operations based in Uganda, the plan offered no details on possible deployments. Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, said it would be “inappropriate” to say when those might start. “I'm not even going to hazard a guess on that one right now. Step number one is now to get into detailed planning with the UN and find out . . . the what, the where and the when,” he said in an interview. This week's announcement was months in the making. The Liberals pledged in the 2015 election to “recommit” to UN peace operations, in part by providing specialized capabilities such as medical teams and engineering support. That promise was followed in August, 2016 by a commitment to deploy up to 600 troops and 150 police officers on UN operations. Canada's contributions to UN peace missions are at their lowest levels in years with just 23 military personnel currently assigned to such operations. That's not likely to change soon. In the wake of Wednesday's commitments, Vance made clear that it will take many months yet of planning and discussions with the United Nations to determine how Canada's offers of personnel and equipment can best fit with ongoing missions. “Some of the ‘when' on smart pledges is years away. Some of the ‘when' on other potential operations is sooner than that,” he said. Some observers criticized the Liberal government for not committing personnel to a single mission, choosing instead to disperse personnel among many possible locations. But Vance said that despite speculation, there was never a plan in the works to deploy troops on a single UN operation, saying, “I've never received guidance that said do a mission with 600 (troops).” Suggestions that troops were headed to Mali, for example, or that the announcement had been delayed “didn't match the reality of the work we were doing,” Vance said. “There were a lot of assumptions made about, ‘hey, we're going to Africa',” Vance said Instead, he said that Canada was working with the United Nations “to figure out a new way of doing business.” And he said repeated fact-finding trips by bureaucrats and politicians, including visits to African countries, were not about scouting any one particular mission. “That's us doing research . . . that allowed us to arrive at an approach that government could consider,' he said. “We've been working for over a year to determine what are the various options available to government in terms of how to improve UN performance overall with Canadian troops,” Vance said. Yet given that Africa is the location of many UN missions so “it's very likely a place where we would offer contributions,” Vance said. The peace support strategy calls for a new training and advisory team to work with a nation before and during a deployment to improve their own ability to conduct peace operations. It also says that Canada will contribute to training centres and schools. Vance said such activities will be the “flagship” of the plan. “We're going to try and leverage the Canadian expertise, one of the best trained militaries in the world and best equipped, . . . so that UN mission performance can improve,” Vance said. Defence analyst Dave Perry said elements of the peacekeeping strategy make sense. The problem, he said, is that the government itself had raised expectations with its drawn-out decision-making and rhetoric about its intentions. “It wasn't just what the government was saying publicly. I think there were also a number of commitments that were strongly intimated to some of Canada's key allies,” Perry said in an interview. “My sense is that the different options that were put forward by the department of national defence for whatever reasons weren't palatable to the government,” said Perry, a senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. While he said the contributions to UN operations were “modest,” Perry said Canada is better off providing military support to other missions, such as coalition efforts to combat Daesh, or NATO roles. “Bluntly, there are better ways of achieving Canadian national objectives in the world that through UN missions,” Perry said. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/11/16/training-foreign-troops-will-be-the-flagship-of-canadas-new-un-peace-strategy-top-soldier-says.html

On 13 November 2017 ministers from 23 member states signed a joint notification on the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and handed it over to the High Representative and the Council. The possibility of the Permanent Structured Cooperation in the area of defence security and defence policy was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. It foresees the possibility of a number of EU member states working more closely together in the area of security and defence. This permanent framework for defence cooperation will allow those member states willing and able to jointly develop defence capabilities, invest in shared projects, or enhance the operational readiness and contribution of their armed forces. The member states who signed the joint notification are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. It is possible for other member states to join at a later stage. The joint notification is the first formal step to set up the PESCO. It sets out: the principles of the PESCO, in particular underlining that the "PESCO is an ambitious, binding and inclusive European legal framework for investments in the security and defence of the EU's territory and its citizens" the list of "ambitious and more binding common commitments" the member states have agreed to undertake, including "regularly increasing defence budgets in real terms in order to reach agreed objectives", proposals on PESCO governance, with an overarching level maintaining the coherence and the ambition of the PESCO, complemented by specific governance procedures at projects level. Joint notification by member states to the High Representative and to the Council on PESCO Next steps The Council now has to adopt a decision establishing PESCO by reinforced qualified majority. This could take place at the next Foreign Affairs Council (11 December). A first list of projects to be undertaken within the PESCO framework should be agreed by the participating member states once PESCO has been established. These could cover areas such as training, capabilities development and operational readiness in the field of defence. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/11/13/defence-cooperation-23-member-states-sign-joint-notification-on-pesco/ Factsheet: https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/pesco_factsheet_13-12-2017_final.pdf

(Montreal, QC and Calgary, AB, Canada, November 7, 2017) - Esterline CMC Electronics and NovAtel Inc. (NovAtel) are pleased to announce a new strategic partnership, extending their collaboration in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning technology that started in the late 1990s. The partnership will see NovAtel's industry-leading GNSS measurement technology integrated into a new Esterline CMC-designed multi-constellation, multi-frequency (MCMF) chipset for certified aviation use. The DO-254 Level A certified chipset will allow both companies to develop new GNSS receiver solutions for use in a variety of safety critical applications, including DO-178C Level A certified products designed for commercial aviation, military and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Combining the world-class capabilities of NovAtel's GNSS expertise with Esterline CMC's aviation and certification experience will allow the companies to bring innovative solutions to the market, meeting the requirements of new and evolving industry standards as the modern age of MCMF GNSS positioning in aviation is ushered in. As two industry-leading technology companies, NovAtel and Esterline CMC will combine their complementary resources to deliver competitive solutions that will establish a new standard for excellence in this exciting application space. John Studenny, Director Aviation GPS Products at Esterline CMC Electronics, said: Esterline CMC and NovAtel have a highly successful and growing relationship built on the strengths of both companies often described as “1+1 yields 3!”. While Esterline CMC Electronics is an acknowledged industry leader with its reliable, dependable, DAL-A certified CMA-5024 and CMA-6024 landing system receivers, our company will usher in a new generation of high-performance Multi-Constellation-Multi-Frequency (MCMF) GNSS products certified to the highest levels, supporting current and new aircraft GNSS precision approach.” Jonathan Auld, Vice President of Engineering and Safety Critical Systems at NovAtel said “We are proud to extend our long-standing and successful collaboration with Esterline CMC Electronics. We believe that this partnership will strengthen the technology portfolio of both companies. NovAtel is a major supplier of precise GNSS technology to mission-critical military and civilian UAS, for example, and with this new, certified chipset we will extend our solution portfolio with assured positioning solutions to meet the emerging industry standards.” https://www.novatel.com/about-us/news-releases/news-releases-2017/esterline-cmc-electronics-and-novatel-partner-on-new-aviation-certified-gnss-receiver/

If the Canadian government is to inject billions of dollars into military procurement over the next decade and successfully deliver on dozens of major capital projects, the defence industry must play a critical role. When the new defence policy was released in June 2017, the Liberal government committed to increase the Department of National Defence (DND) budget from $18.9 billion to $32.7 billion by 2026-27 and provide up to $62 billion for the military over the next 20 years. Experience has shown, however, that increased spending can strain government and industry capacity to meet the requirements and schedules for multiple projects. Industry is up for the challenge providing it has predictability in the programs and the process, said Mike Greenley, president of Burlington, Ont.-based L3 WESCAM and a former chair of the board for the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). “Industry capacity to respond and surge is obviously greater the more horizon you can give it,” Greenley said at a recent Ottawa conference, hosted by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, examining the implications of Canada's Defence Policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged. Greenley–a former executive with General Dynamics and CAE and a veteran of many procurement programs–said large foreign and Canadian manufacturers would make the necessary investments in smaller Canadian companies and production capacity if they have confidence in the opportunity. “If we talk about these things far enough ahead of time, I think people will invest and have Canadian content ready,” he added. MGen Jean-Marc Lanthier, chief of program, said the new policy had generated almost four dozen projects, but he cautioned that the government and military could not succeed if “we don't tap into innovation.” One way to encourage early industry engagement might be to run competitions at the research and development (R&D) phase of certain projects, rather than waiting until after the statement of requirements (SOR) has been fully defined. “If [you wait] for the SOR and everyone fights to the death for that thing, then your ability to respond and scale up is obviously diminished because you are not going to believe in it until, for sure, you absolutely have [it],” Greenley stated. “Industry can do a lot more if they are engaged earlier.” As an example, he pointed to the process to replace the current fleet of CP-140 Aurora aircraft, which is undergoing a series of block upgrades to extend service life into the 2030s. If, as the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has suggested, the goal is a Canadian-built maritime patrol platform with Canadian-developed anti-submarine warfare and other capabilities, “while we modernize the CP-140s today, we could run a competition tomorrow [to get] an industrial team together for next generation maritime patrol.” That would “allow things to happen easier and quicker, engage the whole base sooner, in addition to giving them stability” to survive a change in government or government priorities, he said. “We wouldn't normally do that in Canada. But to [earlier] points about how do you connect industrial capacity with innovation, with trying to get more done with less people with more money, we could [do it].” Defence policies rarely survive as economic blueprints beyond their first few years. In a panel on framing the government's challenge, several former senior public executives noted how quickly a shift in the domestic financial picture or international circumstances forced previous governments to change course. Still, current government officials were optimistic about the policy, noting it is still early days. Andre Fillion–chief of staff, Materiel, and a former RCAF officer who led the acquisition programs for the CC-177 Globemaster, CC-130J Hercules, CH-147F Chinook and CH-148 Cyclone–acknowledged that more certified project managers are needed, as are improvements to streamline the procurement process. An increase in contracting authority to $5 million would allow the Army, Navy, Air Force and special operations forces to directly manage about 80 per cent of DND's procurement projects, freeing up resources and staff for the larger, more challenging and riskier programs. The department will look more holistically at projects, factoring in infrastructure requirements, like hangars, when it acquires an aircraft, and it will place greater reliance on analytics using data to drive decisions on complex programs, said Jody Thomas, deputy minister of National Defence. The department also added two new associate deputy ministers with extensive experience in government and procurement. “We are restructuring the department to deliver,” concluded Thomas. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/oems-will-invest-canadian-content-procurement-program-stability/

oday, Thales announced the creation of the Centre of Research and Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx). Led by Thales, cortAIx, in collaboration with the MILA (Artificial Intelligence Institute of Quebec), the IVADO (Institute of Data Valorization) and the Vector Institute of Toronto, will be located in Montreal, one of the world's leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystems. This investment supports Thales' global strategy of technology leadership. Key Points The creation of cortAIx is another building block of our digital strategy, one of the key initiatives for company-wide growth Investment of 50 new world class experts in AI who will work together to strengthen the use of artificial intelligence in Thales products With the support of our partners, we will empower our customers with better decision making capabilities This new centre supports the creation of approximately 50 new world class jobs of AI researchers and developers. Their mission will be to advance the safe and ethical applications of artificial intelligence across Thales' vast product portfolio. cortAIx will focus on creating solutions to help airlines, satellite operators, air traffic controllers, mainline and light rail operators, armed forces and critical infrastructure managers, make the best decisions in decisive moments – from the bottom of oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace. cortAIx supports Thales' goal of being a world leader in AI while delivering future economic benefits to Canada. Leveraging the combined expertise of MILA, IVADO and the rich ecosystem of AI universities and laboratories, make Montreal and Canada the perfect place to develop cortAIx. With Thales' leadership and the support of our partners, we will leverage Montreal's unique ecosystem of world class talent and creativity to advance the applications of ethical artificial intelligence world-wide. Patrice Caine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thales The biggest challenge faced by AI experts today is to perfect the understanding of the mechanisms behind AI developments, while simultaneously evaluating human behaviors as people interact with these new systems. The key mission of Thales' cortAIx is to build “AI inside” solutions that are safe and ethical while granting full authority to the human decision makers. Building on Thales' recent acquisition of Guavus earlier this year and Vormetric last year, the creation of cortAIx is yet another example of how Thales is strengthening its positioning in one of the key technologies at the heart of global digital transformation. In the last three years, Thales has invested over €1 billion in key digital technologies and recently announced the launch of its high-tech Digital Factory in Paris. This activity brings together leading technology experts who support the injection of big data and artificial intelligence into Thales solutions, while also ensuring data security – a fundamental requirement of the modern digital economy. https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/group/press-release/thales-selects-canada-new-global-hub-boost-artificial-intelligence

The Quebecois company Advanced Powders and Coatings (AP&C), which is owned by 3D printing giant Arcam AB, has now officially opened this second factory in Saint-Eustache. It is expected to create over 100 new jobs, and at least half of these positions should be filled by the end of the year. http://www.3ders.org/articles/20170914-ap-and-c-opens-new-am-factory-in-quebec-to-meet-demand-for-its-3d-printing-materials.html